One Piece Adventure
by LilyAllycia
Summary: Tanith Nephthys is a normal girl with a bad life. She wishes to have a better life and guess what? Her wish comes true! Join Tanith as she travels with the Straw Hat Pirates on their adventures and discovers things about herself she didn't know about. Rated T because of swearing and blood. No parings as of yet.
1. Chapter 1

Tanith Jezebel Nephthys had her head on her desk, her arms crossed on the surface, hiding her face. This caused many of her peers to start whispering.

"I can't believe she's sleeping again!"

"She's such a sloth!"

"I wonder what she does at night to cause her to sleep in class."

"She probably partied all night."

"You're right! She seems like the type."

The teacher called for silence and continued the lesson, until she noticed the sleeping girl.

"Tanith Nephthys!" The teacher yelled banging the sleeping girl 'gently' on the head.

-BAM-

Tanith bolted up and shouted "24!"

"…"

The class started laughing as Tani looked around confusedly. Tani didn't look embarrassed, since she looked more like she was still half asleep.

"You were sleeping again, Mrs. Nephthys. You should take better care of your body" Teacher said, while Tani watched the annoying women walk back to the front of the class. Sitting down in her chair again, the Goth growled under her breath. Being in school sucks. She should be at work.

Shaking her head, Tani tried to focus on the lesson.

…

Alright, sleep time! And with that, she laid her head on the desk again, shutting her eyes, falling asleep a moment later.

The lunch bell went, causing Tani to jump right out of sleep. She watched as the other students gathered in their little groups and started conversation with one another, ignoring the lone Goth. She envied the people in her class. They all had people they could hang with, while Tani had none. She didn't mind though, she always tried to tell herself, though, deep down, she knew she did mind. A lot. It was because her peers felt she was 'different' then everyone else and thus stayed clear of her. Since everyone kept their distance, she started acting like she didn't care falling into the 'loner' character the other students had set up for her.

She sighed and sent a longing look at the food the others had. She didn't have any lunch to bring. Sighing again, she leaned on her desk and waited for the bell to ring.

After Tani's school day (_finally) _ended, she walked home slowly. She had an off work day today and now she could go home early.

Whoop-de-do.

In reality, she'd rather go to work then go home. She even worked overtime, just to make sure she couldn't go home (this explains why she sleeps in class a lot.) Why? Well, ever since her mother died, life at home has been hell. Her father had started drinking a lot more and now he was onto the pissed off stage. And by 'pissed off' she meant 'ready to kill' stage. He hit Tani a lot, punches, kicks, he even used a knife on her once. She couldn't sleep in the house, or she was sure her old man would kill her in her sleep.

What a nasty thought.

Anyway, she had made (with a LOT of help) a tree house thing in the tree on her front lawn. First, of course, she had asked permission from the tree before she did that. Wouldn't want to make the tree angry.

…

Yes, she was a little... different. But she liked being different. Different was good. Sometimes while in her tree house, she'd talk to the tree and sometimes, the tree would answer her. By rustling of its leaves and moving of its branches. No, she was not insane. Just different.

Anyway, she'd take care of her drunken old man; make sure he had food and water (and booze). But even so, he'd still try to hit her. She had debated running away on many occasions, but found that she just couldn't. Thankfully her younger sister by a few seconds, Elegia, had gone to live with other relatives. Yes, the two were identical twins. That she was happy for. If Tani had to live with suffering, she'd do it alone. Elegia deserved a good life.

Tani watched as her house came into view. Sighing, she walked toward it. She'd have to make sure that the house had food and water before she could escape to her tree house.

"Who the hell is there?" was what she heard when she opened the door. Guess that means her father was alert enough to notice her there. She was hoping otherwise. There was her father. He had shoulder length hair and a beard. He was tall, and had muscles. He was probably good looking, but now he just looked wasted and haggard. He was sitting in the chair in the living room. The door opened into the living room.

"Oh, it's you." He sneered at her. Tani ignored him and went to the kitchen. He, of course, followed her. She checked the food supply, and the water in the house. She felt him watching her as she went with her business.

"I don't need you to keep myself alive, bitch. Why don't you just go and leave me alone, since you aren't my daughter" He said to her, his face twisted in disgust. That's the thing. He thinks Tani wasn't even his daughter and because of that, and since she looked so much like mother, he wanted her dead and gone.

She heard the sound of a knife being picked up and turned around to see her old man examining a knife. Her eyes widened in fear and with a twisted, insane looking smile, he swung the knife at her. She tried to move out of the way, but he got her arm. The knife went in all the way to the hilt. Tani screeched and fled out of the house, her hand on the wound, avoiding the knife still in her arm.

"That's right! You better run. If you ever come back, I'll make sure not to miss!" He yelled after her. Tani grit her teeth in pain and she felt blood run down her arm. It's a good thing she had a first aid kit in her tree house.

She ran to the tree, and climbed up as best she could with only one arm. Once she was up, she collapsed onto the floor and crawled one-handed to the first aid kit. She grabbed it and placed it on the floor next to her. Next thing she did was relaxing her arm and pulled the knife out, causing Tani to scream in pain. She grits her teeth, and then went about treating the wound as best she could. Once that was done, she lay on the floor, listening to the tree's leaves and branches rustle. It sounded like it was concerned for her.

She sat up, looking around her room. The tree house was plain, just one room. It had a make-shift bed, a desk (where the first aid kit had been), and 5 walls, meaning 4 walls and a roof, with a bag where all her clothing was. The two big branches the tree house was sitting on ran under it. There was a branch running along the roof, and two branches on both sides, supporting it. It was almost like a safe enclosure.

She walked to the right side window, injury now bandaged and reached out of it (no glass). She touched the branch that was there.

"I'll be fine. It'll heal in time." Tani said to the tree. The leaves rustled again, this sounding more questioning. She had a feeling it was asking her weather she was going to leave or not.

"I can't leave. I have to stay and take care of him. He is my father, no matter how much of a bastard he is. But I want to leave. I want to have a different life, a new one. I wish I could start over, and have an adventure. Maybe make some true friends while I'm at it." Tani smile at the branch and stroked it, then went to get bed.

Tani got under the covers and said "Good night" to the tree. The trees leaves rustled in a lullaby that lolled her to sleep where she dreamed of chocolate and candy.

When Tani was close to waking up, she felt the rocking under her. Strangely, it felt like she was on a boat.

"Do you think she's a mermaid?"

"She doesn't have a tail. She couldn't be a mermaid"

"But we found her floating in the sea"

Tani opened her eyes and started lazily at the sky. Wait, sky? She sat up and looked around her. She was indeed on a small boat, surround by ocean. She noticed two other people with her and when she saw who it was, her jaw dropped to the deck.

Monkey D. Luffy was sitting there, staring at her. _The _Luffy was there. Coby was there too. Tani started at them and they started at her. She was a big fan of One Piece, but had to stop when her father started drinking. He had also trashed her computer. Stupid old man.

"Look! She's awake!" Luffy said, grinning happily.

"Uhhh" Was Tani's brilliant answer.

"Anyway, Coby, what's the pirate hunter like?"

"Oh, you mean Zoro? Last I heard of him, was that he was being held prisoner at some marine base" Coby answered him. Wait, if they were going through this conversation, that means they just got away from the marines and where heading out to find Zoro. _'What the hell is going on?_?_'_

"Oh well, a weakling, huh?" Luffy answered, his grin turning into a frown.

"NO! YOU'RE SO WRONG! He's as vile as a demon and three times as horrifying!" Coby answered, sounding terrified. Then he looked confused as he asked "Why are you asking about him anyway?"

Luffy's grin almost split his face in two. "I figure if he's good enough, I'd ask him to join my crew."

Coby's jaw dropped and his eyes started watering. He looked terrified. "Chasing him down is just plain reckless!"

"You never know, he might jump at the chance to join" Luffy answered.

"He's a bad enough guy that the MARINES caught him! NO WAY! NOT A CHANCE! FORGET IT! NO! NO! NO-"

-BONK-

"OW! Why'd you hit me?" Coby asked, holding his head. He still looked terrified.

"Cause I felt like it" Luffy answered. Then he looked over at Tani and said "What where you doing in the water, anyway?"

Tani blinked at suddenly being talked to and answer "um I don't know?"

"You don't remember?" Luffy asked in all his 'smart' glory.

"Um, yeah, let's go with that" Tani answered. She looked at Coby who was looking at her.

"What's your name?" Coby asked her.

"Tani. Nice to you meet you" Tani answered absently.

"That's an AWESOME name! I'm Monkey D. Luffy" Luffy called out, grinning widely.

"I'm Coby. Is it short for something?" Coby asked again. Tani looked at him. Coby was a scared-cat, but he was smart.

"Yeah. Tanith." Tani said. She blinked as Luffy started generating glowing stars. Was her name really that awesome? What was she supposed to do now? She was here, in One Piece, with no idea how she got here and with no way to get back. Did she even want to go back? "Is it okay if you take me where ever you're going and drop me off on the island?" She asked.

"Yup! That's okay with me!" Luffy said, smiling like no tomorrow.

"It's alright with me, as long as you're not some assassin" Coby said, looking her up and down. "You certainly look like one."

Tani looked down at herself and noted, with amusement, that he was right. She did look like an assassin, dressed in black as she was. For all they knew, she had hidden weapons.

Ignoring the two for a moment, she looked around again and noted with annoyance that she didn't have her bad. In fact, she only had the clothes on her back. Just great. She was going to need to go shopping for clothes.

"Hahaha! Don't worry about it! We saved her life, so she can't hurt us!" Luffy laughed. And so, that was how Tanith Jezabel Nephthys ended up in One Piece on the same boat as Monkey D. Luffy.


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is the second chapter. The first few episodes span the first 3 chapters. Just a warning. :P Enjoy. **

**I do not own One Piece. **

* * *

Tani had been on the boat for about an hour now. She had talked to Coby and Luffy, getting friendly with them. They were both nice, Luffy though seemed like he wasn't all there. Nothing new, so she ignored it. Since she wasn't supposed to know anything, she asked about their dreams. She got the responses she knew she was going to get. When Luffy told her his dream, she didn't act surprised, just interested. Coby freaked out about her reaction, and Luffy hit him again. She could hear seagulls.

"WHAT A DAY! IT'S GORGOUS!" Luffy yelled into the sky.

"As long as we keep this heading we should reach the marine base in no time at all" Coby said, holding the rudder. Tani wasn't moving or talking. She was hungry right now. Since she hadn't had any food before going to sleep, her stomach was empty. And her wound was still fresh. When she tried to move her arm higher than her shoulder, it hurt. She was able to keep it a secret from the other two and for that, she was grateful.

"Wow, Coby, you're great out here! You mean we're going to reach the place we originally set out for?" Luffy asked.

"Of course. It's noting, I'm just using the skills every sailor should have" Coby answered. Then he looked over at Tani and asked "Are you okay?"

Luffy looked back from where he was sitting on the rail and looked at Tani also.

"'m okay, just hungry is all" Tani answered, looking up at the sky.

"Hungry? When was the last time you ate?" Coby asked, looking at her. Tani was abnormally thin. Why? Well, because her old man kept all the food for himself and she'd have to steal small things when she goes out to get food and in the house. She could only steal once a day, so she only got enough food to keep herself alive. Sometimes, she had to skip a day of food so as to keep the stealing down and keep her father obvious to it.

Tani thought about it, pursing her lips as she did so.

"IF YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT, THEN IT WAS PROBABLY A WHILE AGO!" Coby yelled at her.

"Yesterday?" Tani answered his question, ignoring his yelling.

Luffy laughed and said "We'll get you something to eat when we dock. That okay?"

"Yeah, it's okay" Tani smiled up at Luffy, who's grin got even bigger. Luffy was nice. Offering to feed a total stranger. Tani liked him already.

"That's the first time you've smiled since you showed up!" Luffy said, acting like he had won a contest. Tani sweat dropped at him, and then focused back on the sky, absently saying "Is it?"

"HAHAHAHAHAH!" Luffy was laughing with his arms up in the air.

"You know, there's really nothing to be so giggle about. Because, at the marine base, their holding the great Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro. This is the man who's diced up his bounties like an animal bent on carnage! A blood-thirsty beast. He's been called nothing less than a living breathing demon in human form" Coby said, sounding scared out of his mind. Tani smiled to herself, since she knew the truth. Zoro wasn't _that_ bad, just epically awesome and sometimes scary (to other people). Tani always found him epically awesome and cool.

"WHAT ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT?" Coby yelled, pointing his finger at her. Tani blinked at him as he continued "This is nothing to smile about! We _should_ be running away from him, not toward him!"

"Hehe. I'm smiling because I can't wait to him" Tani answered, laughing at Coby's face as it went from disapproval to outright horror.

"WHAAT?!" Coby screeched. His mouth was hanging open. If he didn't close it, he'll start catch flies.

"HAHAH! You're very different, Tani!" Luffy said, smiling at her.

"I like being different" Tani said back, returning his smile. She noticed the island come into view. It had a marine base in the centre, with the village all around it. Tani wasn't expecting to eat until they saved Zoro, so she pushed back her hunger pains and followed the two off the boat. Coby tied it to the docks.

"WE'RE HERE! THE MARINE BASE CITY!" Luffy yelled out, with his arm in the air.

"Finally. Maybe I can get something to eat, now" Tani said as she walked up next to Luffy. They started walking through the town, with Coby trying to talk some sense into Luffy, without much success.

"Seriously, Luffy you're out of your mind if you think the right thing to do is to get this guy to join you"

"Well, I haven't made up my mind yet. I have to see if he's a good guy" Luffy answered.

"He's imprisoned because he's obviously not!" Coby answered.

"Hahahaha!" Tani started laughing at this.

"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT?!" Coby yelled at her.

"Nothing" Tani answered, calming down. Luffy stopped at a pear stand and picked up two pears. He took a bite out of one, paid for both and threw one to Tani.

"Here. This should keep you from passing out" Luffy said, with a big grin. Tani caught it and thanked him, taking a bite. She had been feeling a bit lightheaded. But how Luffy knew was a surprise and a mystery.

"Hey, is that guy Zoro around here somewhere?" Luffy asked the store lady. Everyone in hearing range (besides Coby and Tani) jumped away from them with terrified looks. Tani laughed at them all. She was laughing a lot. It felt almost strange, to go without laughing for almost 2 years and then laugh every hour (that's what it felt like).

"Maybe we shouldn't mention Zoro here, okay?" Coby whispered to Luffy and they started walking again, Tani eating her pear happily.

"Let's head to the base and check it out. You wanna be a marine, right?" Luffy said.

"Well, of course I do Luffy but I really don't think I'm ready just yet. From what I've heard, the man in charge of this base is called Captain Morgan" Coby said, causing the people around to jump back out of fear. Tani laughed again and Coby sweat dropped at the people. It was too funny. Seeing it on an anime was one thing, but living it is another.

"YOU! STOP LAUGHING AT THEM!" Coby yelled at her. Tani mumbled a sorry, causing Luffy to laugh as well.

"HAHAHAH! This town is such a weird place!" Luffy laughed.

"That was odd. I mean I understand if their scared of Zoro but why did they flip when I mentioned the marine captains name?" Coby questioned. Tani knew, but kept her mouth shut. No interfering with the plot. She was just along for the ride. "I don't know. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Maybe they were all just jumping around for the fun of it?" Luffy asked, smiling.

"And how would that make any sense?" Coby asked. Tani rolled her eyes at Luffy. After a few more minutes of walking, they were at the marine base gate.

'This looks like the place!" Luffy stated the obvious.

"No shit, Sherlock" Tani mumbled.

Coby had tears in his eyes as he said "I made it. This is where you two and I part ways. We didn't have long together but – GET DOWN FROM THERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, THEY'LL SEE YOU!" Luffy and Tani had started to climb the wall next to the gate causing Coby to yell at them and wave his arms around.

"Now where's this demon?" Luffy asked of no one.

"They wouldn't keep him out in the open. He's probably suck in a prison cell below ground" Coby said his piece.

Tani had already spotted him and pointed it out.

"I think he's over there" Tani said to Luffy. Luffy saw him to and with a "There he is!" he jumped down and ran to get a closer look. Tani followed him. Coby followed the two.

"Coby, look!" Luffy said, with his arms hanging over the wall. Coby climbed up alongside Luffy.

"Ugh. I'm telling you he's not –EH!" Coby said, shouting in surprise when he saw Zoro. Tani noted that Zoro wasn't looking too good. He was tied to a pole by his arms and his stomach. He had his head lowered, as if he was looking at the ground. He had a lot blood stains on his cloths and some blood on his face. He looked pretty beat up.

"If we untied the ropes, he could just walk away" Luffy said happily, pointing at Zoro.

"AH, DON'T BE SUCH AN IDIOT, LUFFY! There's no telling what a bandit like him will do if we let him go! He might just kill us both!" Coby had shark teeth for the first part of this little don't-do-it speech. Tani sweat dropped at him. She could do that, if she wanted to, but she never really got angry. Only when someone close to her is hurt does she get I'll-kill-you angry. She also loses control of herself and goes all out. It had happened before when someone insulted her twin. Tani had completely lost it and the bully was barely alive when the police got there. He survived, but he was never walking again (Tani had broken his back). After, Elegia Lamia Nephthys (Tani's twin) had made Tani promise never to get angry again. It was a promise she held close to her heart and made sure to always keep.

"Don't worry, I'm strong and we have Tani here. I'm sure we could take him" Luffy said with (what else?) a smile. Tani was a bit surprised to be included in that. Sure, she had to fight off her old man a few times, but that didn't count as strong. And besides all those times where she could barely get away with her life. Coby looked at her hopefully; maybe she could talk some sense into Luffy.

"I'm with Luffy" Tani said, crushing Coby's hopes. He started crying with a terrified face, most likely thinking they had lost their minds. That was when Zoro spoke up.

"Hey, you three. You're an eye sore. Get lost" Zoro looked up, making Coby scream and cry in fear.

"AIEE! Trust me Luffy, there's no chance you'll survive with someone like that on your crew" Coby said to Luffy. Tani watched as a ladder appeared on Coby's other side. Coby turned to look when the ladder touched the wall. A little girl climbed up, shushed them, looked both ways and crawled over with something in her arms.

"AHH! Luffy we gotta stop her, she'll be killed. Either by the marines or the demon himself" Coby yelled to Luffy. Tani watched as she ran over to Zoro and the two started talking. Zoro was being his grumpy self, telling the kid to get lost. Tani knew Helmeppo was on his way there, so she had her eyes on the Iron Gate on the right. That was when the Iron Gate opened and Helmeppo walked in.

Tani grit her teeth and clenched the wall tightly. _'That bastard'_ He always got on her nerves.

"Hey look, now there's another weird guy" Luffy commented.

"That's great. He must be with the marines. Now we know the girl will be safe" Coby said. Poor guy didn't know what was going to happen. Helmeppo started bad mouthing Zoro and then he picked up a rice ball with the girl protesting. He ate it, then spit it back out, obviously disgusted with it. He started yelling about sugar and salt; scolding the little girl (Tani couldn't remember the girl's name). He knocked the other one out of the girl's hands and squashed it on the ground. The girl protested again and Tani felt her anger growing. She clenched the wall harder, her knuckles going white. This is supposed to happen, don't interfere. She was chanting that to herself, so she wouldn't do anything rash. She told herself to keep her promise, wihch calmed her down a bit.

"My. That's just awful" Coby said, sounding sad. The girl started crying, saying how she had worked so hard on those. Helmeppo pulled out a piece of paper and read off of it. It said something about people assisting criminals and about those people getting punished. The little girl reacted in fear when Helmeppo was done reading off of it. Helmeppo talked about his daddy. 'No one cares' Tani thought to herself.

"His 'daddy'?" Luffy asked.

"So that guy's father is Captain Morgan?" Coby said. Helmeppo pointed his thumb at one of the marine shoulders behind him. Telling him to throw the girl out. The shoulder looked shocked about the order and Helmeppo threatened the shoulder with his father's name. The shoulder picked the girl up and threw her over the wall. The girl screamed as she flew. Luffy jumped off the wall and caught the girl.

"Ha! Thanks, mister!" The little girl said to Luffy.

"Luffy, are you two okay? What about you, little girl, are you okay?" Coby ran over and asked. Tani stayed hanging the wall. She had known Luffy would save the girl. Tani watched Helmeppo taunt Zoro while laughing.

"How can that man be so cruel?" Coby asked from behind her. "Luffy? NEGH! What the? Where did he go?" Coby said, sounding panicked.

"Coby, he went into the execution field" Tani said, pointing over the wall, looking back at Coby.

"WHAT?!" Coby yelled. Tani turned back around and ignored Coby's yelling (_"WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM! HE'S GONNA GET HIMSELF KILLED!") _And watched Luffy talk to Zoro. Luffy picked the squashed rice ball and gave it to Zoro after a bit of talking (Luffy being Luffy of course) and Zoro ate it all up. Luffy left after that, climbing over the wall. Tani started at Zoro with her unnervingly green eyes and he started back at her. He opened his mouth to say something, probably telling her to get lost again when Coby shouted form behind her.

"Tani! Come on, you'll get left behind!" Tani looked over her shoulder, looked back at Zoro, then after a smile, dropped down to the ground so she wouldn't get left behind.


	3. Chapter 3

**And here is chapter 3~! Enjoy. I own nothing!**

* * *

Luffy and Rika (Tani finally remember the girls name) where talking about how Zoro ate the rice balls. Tani smiled to herself as she watched Rika. The little girl was adorable, even though Rika did seem a bit scared of the young Goth (Rika kept as far away from Tani as possible) Tani still like the little girl.

"I wonder if Zoro's really as evil as everyone says he is" Coby said, looking a bit depressed. Tani bopped him on the head lightly.

"Leave the depressin' cloud ta the Goths' aye?" Tani said. At Coby's confused look, Tani just laughed.

"He's not! He's good…" Rika said to Coby and she started explaining why Zoro was tied up in the first place. Tani already knew this, so she tuned it out. She leaned against the wall, and looked up at the sky. She's been doing that a lot, sky watching.

Elegia is probably hysterical right now. Or maybe she knows that where Tanith is now is the best place she could be. _'I'm gonna miss her' _Tani thought to herself. Maybe there might be a way to bring Elegia here? That would be nice, but Tani knew that Elegia wasn't much for adventuring and such. She was more of a closed off person, happy where she was. Tani was the opposite. She loved adventures and being reckless. She loved fighting too, but tried not to purposely get into fights. That'd just scare her twin. It was strange, being identical twins but completely opposite. Tani had always wondered why Elegia and she had gotten along so well. Maybe that was the reason.

She got back down to earth when Coby said "I see why your upset" to Rika. That was when something crashed in the girl's mother's restaurant. Tani knew it was Helmeppo. They all got up and ran inside to see what was happening.

"I'm hungry. Bring us whatever you got and keep the check for yourself" Helmeppo said to Rika's mother. Tani clenched her fist, but kept her cool. She had to keep her promise. "And bring us a bottle of your finest moonshine or whatever crap it is that you serve. Put some speed to it, lady, I don't have all day."

Tani noticed Nami sitting at a table close by. She looked away quickly, focusing on what was happening. Luffy had stepped forward, probably getting ready to act if Helmeppo should hurt anyone. Tani stood at the ready to. She wanted to see Helmeppo get hit by Luffy. She leaned forward a bit, smiling to herself.

"That's more like it. I'm thinking of something fun to do since I'm bored out of my skull here. I suppose I could execute Zoro" He said, laughing. Tani could feel Luffy's anger even before he ran forward and punched Helmeppo. Luffy sent Helmeppo flying into a wall.

"You – You just hit me!"

"Luffy, No! You can't hit him!" Coby was holding Luffy back.

"This guy is SCUM" Luffy said angrily.

"You actually hit me!" Helmeppo sounded like he couldn't believe it. "I am Captain Morgan's SON, you know."

"Yeah, like I CARE!" Luffy answered. Tani thought _'well, he is a pirate…'_

"You'll care after he executes you for this!" Helmeppo countered. He sounded like a child. Tani was having trouble restraining herself. Just one little kick…

'Tani…?" Coby asked as she walked forward until she was standing next to Helmeppo. Then, she kicked his side. Hard.

"I've wanted to do that for a while now. When I'm done, you'll be in a hell ofa lot of pain!" Tani said, cracking her knuckles and smiling a shit-eating grin. She had to remind herself of her promise again.

Helmeppo whimpered from pain, before he cried out "You-You hit me too!" He sounded surprised as well as in pain. Good.

"Why don't you just be a man and fight?!" Luffy yelled down at him.

"Luffy just ease off some! You too, Tani!" Coby said. He added the ending part when he saw Tani's face. Her face had always been either mildly happy or blank, execpt when she was laughing, but now she looked _pissed_. Tani clenched her fists tightly, pressing her nails into her palm. The pain shocked her out of her rage a bit. '_Calm down. Clam down!'_ "Why are you two trying to get on the marines bad side?"

"I've made up my mind. Today, Zoro joins my crew" Luffy stated. Tani had restrained herself, and held herself back. _'Enough, Tani! You're just an outsider! You do not belong here, so don't do anything to rash!'_ She scolded herself. She grabbed her anger and pushed it all into a box, snapped the lid shut, added a lock and key, threw the key away and some chains on top of that. While she had been controlling her anger, Helmeppo and his body guards had left.

"Come on. Let's go save Zoro" Luffy said. Tani nodded and Coby, surprisingly, agreed too.

* * *

Tani watched Zoro fall asleep. He was probably tired seeing as the position he was in looked very uncomfortable. Suddenly, Zoro whipped his head up, eyes wide, and then he relaxed. He noticed Luffy and Tani right then.

"Ugh, you two again. Don't you two have things to do?" Zoro said, sounding annoyed and board at the same time (how does he _do_ that?)

"Not really" was Tani's cheeky response. Zoro shot her a glare, and then shifted his eyes back when Luffy started speaking.

"I'll untie you, but only if you promise to join my crew" Luffy said.

"You're what?" Zoro answered.

"I run a pirate crew and I'm looking for people to join up" Luffy said as he walked forward.

"No way! I'd never stoop to joining up with a criminal. Screw that business" Zoro said back.

"And what's wrong with being a pirate?" Luffy asked of him.

"Their despicable! Like I'd ever want to join up with one!" Zoro answered. Tani was getting annoyed. Come on, Zoro! Get your brain in gear and join already!

"Oh come on. Give me a break. Everyone already knows you as some vicious bounty hunter always out for blood" Luffy said. Tani wasn't going to get involved. She wasn't a part of the crew, so this wasn't her business. But she wanted to join up. Deep down, she wanted to join up, even though that could mess up the plot. Oh well, it's not like she'd admit that.

"People can say whatever they want to about me, but I've never done a single thing in my life that I regret. I will make it through this challenge and then I'll accomplish what I want" Zoro said. Tani had a fan-girl moment in her head. She made sure to keep her face blank, though.

"Yeah... that's great. But I've already decided that you're going to be on my crew" Luffy said, the devil. He's one stubborn guy.

"WHAT! YOU CAN'T DO THAT" Zoro yelled at him. Sucker.

"I hear your one of the best swordsman around."

"Well I am. But that idiot captain's son took mine away."

"Guess I'll just have to go get it back for you."

"What?" Tani was finding this interesting to watch. She could see who was winning this argument.

"So if you want your sword, you'll just have to join my crew!" Luffy said cheekily.

"NOW YOU'RE REALLY PISSING ME OFF" Zoro yelled back.

"Tani, untie the ropes, okay?" Luffy said before running off (in the wrong direction), laughing.

"Wait, he's actually gonna bust in there alone?" Zoro asked no one, or maybe Tani. She wasn't sure. "Hey, Genius, the base is in the other direction."

"GUM GUM ROCKET!" Luffy cried before rocketed past Tani and Zoro. Zoro looked after him wide-eyed. Tani looked amused.

"Wha – What the hell is this guy?" Zoro asked. Tani walked over to Zoro's pole and started to try untying him.

"Hey, you'll be killed if you help me!" Zoro said to her, sounding annoyed and concerned (again, how does he _do_ that?). Tani looked at him and smiled.

"I don't care" She said back. That caused him to quiet down, though he settled for trying to scare her off with a glare. She ignored it. Tani continued to try to untie him. The knot was really tough, though and her arm was starting to throb. She kept at it, until her wound reopened. Well, she arm was above shoulder high (she wasn't the tallest person alive…)

"Your arm…!" Zoro said when he saw the blood stain her shirt and run down her forearm. She was wearing a shirt with elbow length sleeves.

"It's nothing. Just an old wound that reopened" Tani said, lowering her arms and holding the injured place. She lifted her sleeve to her shoulder to get a good look at it. It was still bandaged, but now the bandage was being stained with blood at a fast pace.

"Tch" Tani scoffed. She'd need some medical attention later. That was when Coby ran over to them. Tani sat on her ass in the dirt, holding her wound.

"AH! Tani, you're bleeding!" Coby yelled when he saw her.

"I know. Coby, untie Zoro" Tani told him, pulling pressure on her wound, to stop the bleeding.

"Okay. You have to get out of here, Zoro" Coby said as he started pulling on the ropes.

"That manic is gonna kill you both for what you're doing right now" Zoro said, looking from Coby to Tani.

"I can't stand to watch the marines behave like this anymore. A true marine should be honorable" Coby said. Tani smiled and said "'ear 'ear!"

"Look, kid, I can't leave. I've got 10 days left and then their-"

"Well, not quite. Their gonna execute you tomorrow"

"Their what?" Zoro sounded shocked. Tani nodded her head, showing that Coby is right.

"Helmeppo never intended to honor your agreement. He planned on killing you from the start. Which made Luffy really angry so he just knocked them out" Coby explained.

"He... did?" Zoro was looking ahead of him, with a bit of a faraway look on his face.

"Now that the marines are mad, their dead set on catching Luffy. Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask you to become a pirate. But I hope that you'll help him. You've got a lot of strength you can offer" Coby continued.

"Luffy will defiantly need it, too. Since he's a brainless idiot" Tani said from where she was sitting. There was a small pool of blood growing where she was sitting.

"Ah! Tani, you need a doctor!" Coby said to her, when he saw the amount of blood.

"Ignore me, and focus on freeing Zoro" Tani said. She had one leg bent with her injured arm resting on it. She had her head resting on her forearm, the uninjured part. She was feeling lightheaded. It didn't help that the pear wasn't enough food.

"I'm a bit worried for her. She looks like she's going to faint." Zoro said, watching Tani.

Tani waved a hand and said "I'll be fine, now ignore me."

"He's the only person here who can save you from execution" Coby continued where he left off. "And, of course, you're the only one who can save him, from a very similar fate."

"End of the line!" Captain Morgan said. He brought his cronies with him and all of them where pointing guns at the group of three. Tani whistled at the amount of guns. There was a lot.

"For the crime of treason against me, I sentence you three to die where you stand" Captain Morgan continued. Coby had a scared look on his face, Zoro looked shocked. Tani, however, was not concerned at all.

"We'll be just fine" She said, causing the other two to stare at her as if she'd gone insane. The gun guys cocked their guns and Coby started crying from fear.

"You've been pulling some interesting moves around here. What is this, some sort of poorly executed coup? You three plan with the Straw Hat?" Morgan's voice was getting on her nerves.

"I've always fought alone, like a real man does! Not like a coward, who hides behind his wall of expendable cronies!" Ah, Zoro. Always so awesome when facing death.

"Roronoa Zoro. Don't you dare underestimate me; you may be a strong fight, but under my authority you're just a rat we throw out with the trash. Take aim!" Morgan gave a command. Tani looked at Zoro and knew what he was thinking. Tani looked back over at the gun people, and felt a seed of dread. What if Luffy didn't show up in time? What would her presence here change?

"Fire!"

Luffy landed right in front of them, effectively in the line of fire. The bullets hit him.

"WHAT!?" Zoro yelled.

"LUFFY, NOOO!" Coby yelled.

"Straw Hat!" Morgan said.

The bullets skunk into his skin, one almost touched her nose. Luffy smiled, and then bounced them back.

"SEE YAH!" He yelled. "HAHAHAHAHAH! That won't work on me! Told ya I was strong!"

"What the?" Zoro sounded stunted. "Who the hell are you?"

"My names Monkey D. Luffy and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright! Here's the next chapter for this story! I'd like to ask that you read and review! Also, I'm going to revisit and probabily change the first chapter a bit (I fail at first chapters...). Nothing too major, just how Tani acts in the first part, or how I protray her, anyway. So watch out for that!**

**Laffy50: Thank you for bring that to my attention. I'll reread that chapter and see what I can change! Also it's okay! I like it when I get my readers input!**

**Kine X: Heh sorry but that I can't answer just yet. You'll find out in later chapters.**

**I don't want to sound like I'm making an ad, but it would be nice to check out my other story The Lonely Demon. **

**I don't own One Piece. I only own Tani.**

**Tani: HEY! **

**WARNING: Tani gets a little insane at the begiening (lost too much blood...) just so you know!**

After Luffy declared his dream, the looks on the marines face's as well as Zoro's face, caused Tani to lose it. She started laughing like no tomorrow, pointing her finger at the marines. She laughed so hard, her sides hurt and she fell on her back. More blood came out of her wound as she laughed, but she took no notice. She rolled onto her side, trying to breathe. After she calmed down, things started moving forward again, after everyone there gave her long looks that said billions.

"Is there something wrong with her?" She heard Zoro ask someone, probably Coby.

"Yes, unfortunately" Coby answered. Tani suddenly sat up and yelled out "OKAY! I can breathe again. Please continue!" She waved a hand and crossed her legs, as if they were having a conversation over tea.

"Are you mocking me, girl?" Morgan said to her. He had a vein pulsing on his head. Tani put a finger to her chin and made a thinking face.

"Yup!" She said happily. Coby got a horrified look and yelled at her "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Luffy started laughing and Zoro looked like he was questioning her sanity.

Oh, look! A squirrel!

…

Anyway, Morgan looked like he was going to explode from rage. "A lowly peasant such as yourself dares to mock me, the great Captain Morgan?"

"Uh-huh" Tani said, nodding her head. "And you're not that great. I know of"- She counted on her fingers-"FIVE people that are better then you!" She held up one hand, fingers splayed. Luffy laughed at that.

"You're going to be king of the pirates? Right. You must be completely out of your rubbery mind. Do you have any idea what that means?" Zoro said, the plot getting back on track, ignoring the supposedly insane girl in the processes.

"King of the pirates means king of the pirates. How could it mean anything other than that?" Luffy answered 'smartly'.

"When he first told me, it was shocking, but he seems completely serious. That's just how he is, I suppose. He had every intention of becoming king of the pirates and finding the ultimate treasure, the One Piece" Coby said. He looked and sounded awed by Luffy's resolve. Tani was too, but hid it well. She knew he was going to say that. Luffy smiled and laughed.

"Here's what I promised you. There were three, so I couldn't tell which was yours, so I took them all!" Luffy said with a smile.

"All of them belong to me; I use Santoryu, the three sword style." Zoro said as he started wiggling in his bonds. He wanted to be let loose, apparently.

"Hm. Take them alright! Just know that if you fight with me now, you'll be a government defying villain. It's either that or you're left out here, killed by the marines, execution style!" Luffy comment, smiling. Tani knew that she wouldn't be able to say no if he asked her to join, but she'd feel like she was selfish if she asked him. She didn't want to change the plot.

"What are you, the son of the devil? It doesn't matter. If I don't choose your side, I'll just be dead on these sticks. So let's do it" Zoro said, smiling devilishly. You're finally talkin' Zoro!

"HAHAHA! YOU'RE FINALLY JOINING MY CREW! THIS IS THE BEST EVER!" Luffy yelled, celebrating.

"Would you quit celebrating already and get these ropes off me!" Zoro yelled at his new captain. The marines started gawking at Luffy's ability and Morgan explained about the Devil Fruits. Tani already knew all that, so she ignored him.

"Hey Luffy, I think you scared the marines" Tani told him, pointing at them again. "Nice job."

Luffy smiled at her and said "I've got my first crew mate!"

"Wait. I thought she was in your crew" Zoro asked, nodding at Tani.

"Nope! We picked her up out of the sea." Luffy answered, turning to Zoro.

"They saved my life, so I'm trying to think of a way to repay them" Tani put in. Luffy then started trying to untie the ropes. Tani stood up, stumbled a bit on unsteady feet (she still felt light headed) and helped him.

"Come on! Hurry!" Coby said.

"They got these things on here tight" Luffy said, pouting in frustration as he pulled on the ropes.

"Come on! Quit screwing around!" Zoro yelled at Luffy and Tani. Tani got the ropes she was working on to loosen a bit. She made a victory sound and continued trying.

"I doesn't matter what kind of abilities they have, all who oppose me are executed. If the guns don't work, we CHOOOP!" Morgan yelled rising his axe hand in the air. The marines started running at them with swords in their hands. Zoro looked ahead with a panicked looked. Coby had the same expression on his face. Tani thought it wise to get out of Zoro's way.

"That's funny, the knots got tighter instead of looser" Luffy said, either he had no idea about the danger coming at them, or he was ignoring it.

"Gimme one of my damn swords now!" Zoro yelled with shark teeth at Luffy.

"AHH! Luffy look!" Coby yelled at Luffy. Luffy looked over and then gave Zoro his swords. Zoro cut himself free, and stopped all the marines in their tracks. Luffy, who was holding rope pieces in his hands, and Coby looked awed. Morgan looked shocked and horrified at the same time.

"WOW! THAT'S SOO COOL!" Luffy yelled.

"GO ZORO!" Tani yelled, standing next to Luffy.

"Make one move and you die." Zoro said, looking at the marines behind him. The marines started crying like babies, saying how scary Zoro was. Tani laughed. Zoro just looked so epic and devil-like that she had to.

"Today I officially become a criminal, having fought the marines. So I'll become a pirate that I can promise you. But I want you to know one thing. I will only thing I dedicate myself to, is accomplishing _my_ ambition."

"Which is?" Luffy asked

"To be nothing less than the words greatest swordsman. If along the way I have to give up that ambition I want you to take responsibility, after which you get to apologise to me" Zoro continued.

"The world's greatest swordsman. Sounds pretty good. The king wouldn't have any less on his crew" Luffy answered, looking pleased. He must be, Tani thought, he did get his first crew mate.

"Big talker. From this point on, no matter if I'm a criminal or not, I will spread the name 'Zoro' throughout the world!" Zoro said. Tani had a fan-girl moment in her head at his awesome speech. Morgan started yelling at the marines. Since his voice was getting on her nerves, Tani tuned him out. The marines started shaking in fear.

"Might want to duck" Luffy said as he lifted his foot off the ground. Tani and Zoro ducked. Tani did because she knew from where she was standing; she would get hit when he followed through with his attack.

"GUM GUM WHIP!" Luffy shouted and swung his leg at the marines. Tani felt his leg ho over her head. She allowed herself a moment of pride, she had been right. Luffy sent the marines flying back at Morgan.

"YES! You knocked them all down!" Coby said.

"You wanna tell me what you are?" Zoro asked, after standing back up again.

"I'm just a guy who ate the gum gum fruit." Luffy answered.

"What's a gum gum fruit?" Zoro asked. The marines started talking among themselves as Tani answered Zoro's question.

"It's one of the Devil Fruits" Tani leaned back on her hands, and then yelped when her arm gave a painful throb. She had almost forgotten her injury. She held her injury again, cursing her father for giving it to her in the first place.

"This is a direct order. Every marine who just spouted weakness, pull your gun out and shoot yourself. I can't do anything with weak shoulders" Morgan ordered. Tani started fuming form where she sat.

"What babies. This'll be easy" Zoro said, cocking a sword, getting ready to attack.

"LUFFY!" Coby yelled as Luffy ran forward, going for Morgan. "BRING THOSE MARINES COMBILING TO THEIR KNEES!" Luffy went after Morgan, trying to punch him, but Morgan blocked with his axe hand. Zoro removed a sword from his mouth.

"Rankless lowlife! You have no right to go against my superiority. I am Captain Axe Hand Morgan!" Morgan yelled.

"KICK HIS ASS, LUFFY!" Tanith yelled.

"And I'm Luffy. Nice ta meet cha" Luffy answered back. Morgan went at Luffy with his axe. Luffy dodged easily enough. Morgan created large fissure in the ground with his axe. Talk about power. Coby screamed when he saw that. Luffy pushed both his feet onto Morgan's face, causing him to fall down to skid on the ground. Luffy landed lightly on his feet. A marine commented on Morgan getting hit as Morgan slowly stood up.

"You runt!" Morgan said, rising his axe as Luffy ran toward him. "NOW DIE!" Morgan brought his axe down, trying to hit Luffy.

"I don't think so!" Luffy spun out of the way. After spinning for a second, Luffy kicked Morgan in the face. All the Marines had shocked and horrified expressions. Luffy grabbed Morgan's shirt and started punching him.

"You call yourself a marine, but you destroy my friend Coby's dream!" Luffy said as he punched Morgan.

"STRAW HAT! STOP RIGHT THERE! LOOK AT WHAT I GOT!" Helmeppo was suddenly there, with a gun pointed at Coby's head. Tani started getting up, ready to launch herself at Helmeppo.

Luffy ignored him and kept pummeling Morgan.

"Are you stupid or something? I said stop! If you paid attention to me, I have a hostage here you might want to look at!" Helmeppo continued. He was shaking badly, the gun rattling in his hand. Tani get into a position she could launch herself from, then her arm gave another throb and she grunted in pain, gritting her teeth.

"Stop. You're injured. Just relax and let us handle this" Zoro said to her. Tani looked at him, and then nodded, sitting back down in the dirt. "Hey" He said to Luffy.

"If you value your squatty little friend's life, you won't move a muscle! I'm serious! One move and I'll shot, I swear!" Helmeppo said, still shaking badly. Even Tani could see that he wouldn't be able to shot it. Luffy looked at Coby's scared face and then smiled.

"Luffy, Listen! Don't let whatever happens to me stop you, even if I die!" Coby said, getting some courage.

"Of course! You got it. You hear that you big idiot? Coby is ready to die by your hand!" Luffy said as he walked forward, his arm raised.

"Don't move! I said don't move, or I'll shoot I swear it!" Helmeppo said again. Tani would see Morgan raising his axe from above Luffy.

"LUFFY! BEHIND YOU!" Coby and Tani yelled at the same time. Hurray for unison screaming.

"GUM GUM…" Luffy said.

"Times up! Die by fearless marine Captain Axe Hand Morgan's hand!" Morgan yelled. Tani saw Zoro put his sword in his mouth again.

"Daddy, hurry up and kill him already!" Helmeppo yelled.

"PISTOL!" Luffy yelled and stretched his arm toward Helmeppo in a punch. Morgan's axe came down on Luffy. It stopped before it could hit him though.

"Nice one!" Luffy said. Morgan fell down and Zoro landed on Morgan's side. "Thank you" Luffy continued.

"I'm just doing my job, Captain." Zoro answered. Luffy smiled. Tani fell backward in relief. She had been really scared there, even though she had known what was going to happen. She also fell on her back because she felt light-headed. She hadn't noticed it before, though. Must be from all the blood she lost.

"If there's anyone else who wants to step forward to fight us, then do it now." Zoro called to the awed marines. The marines started celebrating, throwing guns, swords and hats in the air with calls of 'WE'RE FREE!'

"That's weird. Looks like their all happy that their captain was beaten" Luffy said, watching them.

"They must have been afraid of him for a long time until we showed up!" Coby said happily. Zoro grunted and fell back, closing his eyes. Coby freaked out.

"ZORO! Are you okay? What's wrong?" Coby yelled.

"I'm just… Hungry" Zoro answered. Coby looked over at Tani and had a similar reaction.

"I'm okay. Just light-headed" Tani answered, looking up at the sky. "The sky is so blue today."

"…"

Tani then shut her eyes and fainted.

"I am stuffed! Having not eaten for 3 weeks, I was ready to bite though my boot straps!" Zoro exclaimed, rubbing his stomach. He had eaten a lot. What surprised everyone else was when Tani woke up and walked into the room, she started drooling when she saw food and ate with an animal like ferociousness. During food time, introductions had been made. She ate about as much as Zoro. Now, she leaned back in her chair.

"Ah. I haven't had a meal like that in for a while now!" Tani said, looking happy. This caused the others to look at her strangely.

"_When_ was the last time you _ate_ properly?" Coby asked her, looking sceptical. Tani thought about it and came up with an answer. She didn't want to lie, but didn't want to tell the truth, either. She settled for half-truths. She'd tell the truth when she could, though.

"I've been living off of bread and water for the past 2 years now" Tani said, answering his question. It was true, too. She could only steal a few slices of bread and a water bottle from her father. It sucked, really, but it kept her alive, even though she got sick a lot. Luffy, Zoro and Coby started at her like she'd gone insane. What kind of situation would call for her to fast like that?

"What happened to you to cause you to do that?" Zoro posed the question. Luffy was looking horrified at the prospect of only eating bread for a whole 2 years and Coby looked shocked.

"A certain… situation that I had been in for the past two years" Tani answered. She continued, masking the real truth, with a kind of, half-truth. "That's why you found me out at sea. I had left, wanting to return home, but got caught in a storm." Tani said. It had some truth to it. She had basically left, even though she had no idea _how_ it happened. The home part was true, too. She did want to return home (to an extent). The storm part was the lie and as she said it, she made sure to look at them all and not let her face turn red. She was normally a bad liar, but she couldn't let herself be bad now.

Luffy, Coby and Rika seemed to believe her. Zoro looked suspicious, but let it go and Rika's mother looked horrified. Telling Half-lies: Success!

"I can't believe you two are finished. Light weights" Luffy said, bring the conversation back to food. He was still eating. Tani didn't find this surprising. Since he was made of rubber, it made sense he'd have a rubber stomach and high metabolism. But still, the amount he was eating was still surprising. Zoro thought so too.

"How the hell can you have a bigger appetite then a guy who hasn't eaten in weeks?" Zoro asked, pointing at him.

"This just taste too good I guess. Right, Coby?" Luffy continued, still stuffing his face.

"Yeah, it's great! Thanks for fixing it for us" Coby looked sheepish, with his hand on the back of his head.

"My pleasure. After all, you guys did save the town" Rika's mom answered. Tani smiled. She liked Rika's mom. She kind of reminded Tani of her own mother. Mother had been nice like that, too.

"You the most amazing man I've ever met!" Rika said to Luffy causing him to smile with his mouth full.

"Yeah, I am. I know. I'll be even more amazing when I'm King of the Pirates and have the One Piece. Oh and the best crew on the seas" Luffy answered.

"So, Tani tell me what are you going to do?" Coby asked her. The brought everyone's attention on her. Tani blinked at his question and said "I'm not really sure. I want to go back to my home land. Thing is, though, I don't know where it is."

"How can you not know?" Luffy asked her. Tani looked at him and said "I was young when I was taken from my home land. I'm not really sure where it is, since I was never allowed to see a map." She had no idea how true that was (in a sense).

"So for all you know, it could be on the Grand Line" Luffy said causing Tani to blink owlishly at him.

"I guess" she answered.

"If you come along with us, we can find your home land and bring you there." Zoro said nodding to himself.

"You'd really do that for me?" Tani asked, looking shocked. Luffy laughed and nodded with a big smile.

"What do you say?" Luffy asked her.

Tani smiled widely and yelled out "I'M IN!" Remember how she said she would join if asked, but wouldn't ask herself? Well, that played in right then.

"So, how many other have you gathered for your crew besides me and Tani?" Zoro asked Luffy. Poor guy, he's going to get the shock of his life.

"Hm?" Luffy ate another bite and looked at Zoro as he continued.

"You told me you were in the middle of gathering a crew for your ship and if you're gonna be king of the pirates, I gotta assume you already have someone waiting in the wings."

"Nope! Just you two" Luffy said. Zoro made a surprised sound, his eyes going wide. Tani felt like she was going explode from laugher, but kept quiet.

"Just…?" Zoro said, pointing at Luffy, Tani and himself. Tani was having trouble breathing because of Zoro's face and her own was turning red.

"You're going to explode, you know" Rika said to Tani, watching her. Tani finally couldn't taking it anymore and burst out laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?" Zoro yelled at her. Tani calmed down enough to answer.

"Your expression! It's funny!" Tani said before she started having breathing problems. Again. She took too deep breaths and calmed down.

"It's just us!" Luffy answered Zoro's question.

"So, you, her and I are what amount to an entire pirate crew" Zoro said, still looking like he couldn't believe his eyes.

"What's wrong with that? We're a group of strong people" Luffy answered, seemingly clueless.

"Okay but please tell me you have a ship" Zoro said, his leg on top on the other one. He rested his arm on the table.

"Sure do! Its right there" Luffy pointed out the boat. Zoro got up and walked over to the window and looked out, laying an arm against the top part of the frame.

"You're kidding" Zoro said. Zoro's reaction was reasonable, since it _was_ a very small boat.

"Nope! But we'll have an EMORMOUS one before long! Just you wait and see!" Luffy said, demonstrating how big by waving his arms around.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! And how's that?" Zoro laughed, placing a hand on his hip. Luffy, however, wasn't listening.

"With a great big pirate flag on top" Luffy said as he ate another bite. Tani could tell he was imagining something in his head, then he said "I can't wait!"

"I think Luffy was born without the part of the brain that allows the rest of us to plan out what we have to do" Coby put his input in. Tani nodded her head, agreeing with Coby.

"I can't believe I let myself get suckered into having him as my captain" Zoro said to himself with his fingers against his forehead. Tani knew how he felt, because right then, she felt the same.

"Hey. We'll have a ton more crew members in now time!" Luffy said happily.

"Luffy where are you and your crew going to travel when you leave here?" Rika asked him.

"You mean it isn't obvious? We're heading straight for the Grand Line!" Luffy answered, causing Coby to spit out the juice he was drinking in shock. It came out of his nose, too…

"NO! Have you lost your mind? You've got three crew members! There's no way you can handle the Grand Line!" Coby said, looking horrified. It felt strange to Tani, being included. Coby started explaining about the Grand Line after Rika's comment. Tani knew all this, so she tuned it out.

She took a drink from her glass. The Grand Line, huh? Personally, she couldn't wait to go. She smiled to herself. She tuned back in when Coby started yelling again.

"NO! YOU CAN'T AGREE! Tani, talk some sense into them!" Coby suddenly turned to her. She blinked at him, then smiled.

"I see no problem. Besides, my home may be on the Grand Line. I'll never know unless I go there" She said easily enough (again, she had no idea…) causing him to pale in fear for them. Luffy laughed at her answer and Zoro smiled.

"What do you care, you're not going with us, are you?" Zoro asked Coby then.

"No, but I still worry. Is it so wrong to care about the three of you? I haven't known Luffy for years or anything, but I still consider him a friend. Wouldn't you say?" Coby said, looking at Luffy.

"Yeah. Of course! We may have to part ways, but we'll always be friends" Luffy answered.

Coby started talking about his past, and then stated that he would join the marines. Coby looked over at Tani and asked "What about you? Are we friends?" He looked nervous to her. Tani smiled and said "Of course we're friends, Coby." He smiled back at her.

"Then you should be a little more concerned about your situation?" Zoro just had to rain on Coby's happiness.

"Huh?" Coby asked.

"I mean, you did spend 2 years on Alvida's pirate ship, even if you were nothing but her cabin boy. The marine's information gathering is top notch. They'll find out about your time with Alvida and you'll never join." Zoro just had to point out.

"I never thought of that" Coby said. Rika's mother spoke up then.

"Tani, where did you get that Tattoo on your back? It was very well done" She said. Tani had been drinking from her glass when Rika's mother said that. Tani choked on the liquid and set her glass down, coughing. When she could talk again, Tani yelled "WHAAT!?" Everyone started at her shocked face. Tani ignored them, though. She looked at Rika's mother, eyes wide, mouth hanging open.

"I thought nothing could shock her" She heard Zoro comment dryly and Luffy's laugh.

"You have a tattoo on your back. Did you forget you got it?" Rika's mother smile slightly. Tani started some more, then asked for two mirrors, which Rika and her mother went to get. Ignoring the 3 men in the room, she pulled off her shirt (thankfully she had her bra on) which caused Coby and Zoro to quickly look away with a red face. Luffy seemed unaffected, though. Rika and her mother came back with two mirrors. One was full length, then other a hand mirror. They set both mirrors down, the full length one on the floor standing upright and the hand mirror on the table.

Tani picked the hand mirror up; walk to the mirror ignored the gasps behind her (and the eyes she felt on her back) and turned around so her back was facing the big mirror. Using the little mirror in her hand, she could see her back.

There was a Tattoo there.

It went from the top of her shoulders to the start of her pants, her lower back. It was indeed a tree. The trunk was on her spine, stopping a bit under half-way up her back. That's where the leaves started. Branches branched off there as well, green leaves everywhere. She recognized the place where her tree house had been. The box of branches, with one side open. That means this tree was her tree. The one in her front yard.

"Yeah, I must have forgotten having it done" Tani said, though her voice sounded fake to her own ears. She walked away from the mirrors, put the hand mirror on the table and picked up her shirt. Once it was back on, Coby said "It was really well done. So much detail."

"I can't remember who did it, sorry to say" Tani smile apologetically. That was when a marine guy walked in.

"You there" He said and walked up to them.

"We heard that you fella's are actually pirates. Is this rumour true?" The marine guy asked.

"Right. And I just added the first two members of my crew. So the whole thing just became official" Luffy answered.

"We appreciate everything you did to save our town from that horrible tyrant that terrorized us all for so long. However, now that we know that your pirates, as marines, we cannot sit idly by and watch as you go about your business. As such, you and your crew will have to leave immediately. In honor of what you did today, we will not report you to headquarters" The marine said, fixing his hat half-way through it. This caused the people who had been standing outside, watching the group, to protest. Luffy just smiled and said "Well, time to go" and stood up. Tani stood up as well, though she wasn't all there. She was still thinking about the strange tattoo on her back. The only one she had gotten was on right thigh, thankfully covered by her pants. It was a small one. It was a dark green flower, opening up and a girl was sitting in the middle of the flower, in a light green dress. Apparently, according to her mother, it was the symbol for the Nephthys family. Why, she had no idea. Her mother didn't say.

"Thanks for all of the food, lady" Luffy said to Rika's mother.

"Hey wait a second, your leaving already?" Rika asked. Luffy picked up a bag of food as she was talking.

"Yeah" he said before walking forward. Zoro picked up his blades and started walking toward the door as well. Tani followed them, snapping out of her thoughts. They walked by Coby, who just stood there.

"Aren't you part of the crew as well?" The marine asked Coby.

"W-well… I… uh… I-"Coby was having trouble speaking. Luffy stopped walking while Coby was talking, but continued forward.

"Hold it. Is he with you or not?" The marine asked Luffy. Tani and Zoro had stopped by the door of the restaurant, waiting for Luffy and watching what was going on.

"What I can tell you is what he's been busy doing up to this point" Luffy started. Coby turned around with a horrified face. Luffy intimidated being fat using his arms as he talked. "Yeah, there was this really fat lady. I think her name was Alvida."

"Luffy!" Coby said, shock on his face.

"She carried around this iron club and boy she was the nastiest women I'd ever seen" Luffy continued as he walked forward. He started poking Coby. "For two years, this wimpy kid was her own private cabin boy." Coby then punched Luffy in the face. Luffy leaned back a bit from the impact. Tani saw Zoro smile to himself.

"Heh. Now that was a dumb move!" Luffy started punching Coby. He went a bit overboard in her option. Luffy was insulting Coby as he punched him.

"Get out of here now! We can't have you pirates tripping up this place any more then you already have, you hear me?" The marine guy said.

Zoro grabbed Luffy's collar, saying "Enough. You made your point. Now let him fall to the ground."

Coby fell on his back, looking a bit bloodied.

"It's obvious you're not crewmates so leave the poor kid alone and take your leave of this town immediately" The marine guy said, pointing at the two. Luffy and Zoro walked back out the door. Tani smiled slightly and turned back around, walking to the docks. The spectators moved out of there way. Tani stretched her arms above her head and said in a low voice so only Zoro and Luffy could hear her "That was some pretty nice acting, Luffy." He smiled at her in response.

"That was a thin act you put on back there. I wouldn't be surprised if they saw right through it" Zoro said to Luffy when they neared the docks.

"Haha. Coby should be able to handle the rest on his own. I have faith in him." Luffy answered.

"It is a fitting way to leave this place. Unable to turn back since everyone here hates us now. Very pirate like" Zoro commented. Tani laughed at that along with Luffy.

"Haha! Yeah, it sure is" Luffy said as he untied the boat form the dock.

"Luffy!" Coby was suddenly there. He saluted, saying "I cannot thank you enough. You've done more for me than anyone ever has!"

"I've never heard of a marine thanking a pirate before. That's one for the history books." Zoro said. Tani laughed at that as she climbed into the small boat. Luffy laughed as well.

"We'll meet again, Coby! Someday!" Luffy called while waving.

"I'll see ya around, Coby!" Tani yelled, also waving.

"Bye Luffy, Tani" Coby said, sounding sad.

"Hope you see you two again someday!" Rika called back while waving.

"ALL HANDS! SALUTE!" The marine guy yelled, before saluting. Tani started laughing.

"SEE YA!" Luffy yelled as the boat sailed away. He walked to the front of the boat, placing a foot on the rail. Tani sat down across from Zoro.

"At last! Our pirate crew sets sail!" Luffy said while hold his hat.

"I have a feeling some interesting adventures are waiting for us" Zoro commented.

"HAHAHA! I can't wait to start those adventures!" Tani said, smiling.

"Hahah! I'll be king of the pirates. I know it" Luffy said.

"You seem more or less obsessed with this king of the pirates business. Is there some kind of story or any reason at all behind it?" Zoro asked, his smile a frown now.

"No, no reason. It's just…" Luffy answered.

"Just?" Zoro questioned.

"I promised someone a while back. I promised I'd get a crew, find the world's greatest treasure and become king of the pirates. And this straw hat knows the whole story" Luffy said, smiling.

"I see" Zoro said, smiling.

"NOW LET'S GO! IT'S TIME TO SET OUR HEADING TO THE GRAND LINE!" Luffy yelled into the sky. Tani smiled to herself. She personally loved Shanks. He was awesome. Tani leaned back and yawned. She was tired.

"I'm gonna sleep" Tani told the other two, getting okays as a response. She shut her eyes and fell into dreamland.


	5. Chapter 5

**OH MY GOD! I AM SOOOOOO SORRRRRRRRYYYYYYYY T_T! Homework just suddenly dumped on me and I didn't have any time at all! Please forgive meeee! **

**Anyway, here is a new chapter for this story. I'm still in the processes of writing the other chapter for my other story. I keep messing up **

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. I only own my OCs. **

**Special thanks to all you people who have altered/favorited this story! **

**A big thanks and a bear hug for all you people out there who have read this story! **

**Anyway, enjoy this chapter! Anyother chapter is on it's way! (Next chapter is already finished. Hehe )**

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Tani was leaning against the edge, her arms over it. She was hoping to catch something to eat. She was starving. It didn't help that Luffy kept complaining every 5 seconds.

"Sooo hungry" Luffy whined again. He was hanging over the rail, his arms also over the edge. He was facing the edge, though, and had his head forward as well.

"When the hell are we gonna reach land?" Zoro complained. He was sitting on Tani's side of the boat. He had an arm against the edge. He looked hungry too. The boat was titled a bit, thanks to Luffy.

"Who knows? We'll be sailing on the wind and the waves, going where they take us. We might not even reach the land. Naw, I guess we will someday." Luffy said. The movement of the boat on the waves was rocking her into a sleepy fuzziness. Her eye lids lowered. She'd been asleep a lot lately. Nothing better to do.

"Don't you find it dumb that someone trying to be king of the pirates has no navigational skill at all?" She heard Zoro say before she fell asleep.

Tani usually never had dreams and when she did, they were always so strange. This was one of those times.

_She was standing in the darkness, feeling comfortable. She liked the dark. It made her feel like she was wrapped in a blanket, protected. Then the darkness changed, getting less comfortable. It felt hostel to her and that scared her. She felt like running, but couldn't. She couldn't move or speak, she found out quickly. She wanted to yell for help. She looked around her, looking for something else in the darkness, something warm. She found nothing. _

_Then she heard two voices. One was low and rough. The other was high and soft. It sounded like they were arguing over her, or telling her to do something. It was one of the two. She couldn't hear what they were saying, though. It was just sound, no words. _

_She felt something behind her. She tried to turn around and found she could. Behind her was her tree, the one that was also on her back. She started at it, scared out of her mind. It felt dangerous now, not comforting, like it usually was. She whimpered silently. Two of its branches came at her, like they were going to attack her, and wrapped around her, squeezing. She felt like she was being crushed. It was that strong. Then she heard it speak, its voice low and angry. _

"_You are scum. You do not deserve to live. Go and die!" _

She woke up with a start. What was that dream? Something about her tree… The details where leaving her now. She couldn't remember anything of the dream, only that she had been terrified.

"Your finally awake, Tani" Zoro said to her. She blinked at him, noticing that a certain straw hat wearing kid was missing. She also noticed that there were 3 new guys on the boat. They were rowing.

"Luffy got carried off by a bird, didn't he?" Tani asked, face palming. Zoro looked at her with a mildly shocked face.

"Yeah, but how did you know that? You were asleep" Zoro asked, his face going from shocked to suspicious.

"Don't make that face. I had a feeling something like this would happen. He gets himself into a lot of trouble just by existing" Tani answered as she sat up and looked at the 3 new guys. "So who are they?" She knew who they were. She just asked to seem less suspicious.

"Their guys from Buggy the Clowns pirate crew" Zoro answered before turning back to them. "So what was this about a girl?"

"She can predict the weather!" The middle guy said. Hm, they must be talking about Nami. Tani tuned out the conversation in favour of thinking about the dream. Or what she could remember of it. It gave her chills even when she couldn't remember all of it. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't see where they were or that they had docked until Zoro called to her.

"Hey Tani! We're here" He said to her. She looked at him and blinked. Then she stood up and got out of the boat. When she was on dry land, that was when an explosion happened and they saw a row of houses get destroyed nearby.

"That was one heck of an explosion" Zoro commented when he heard it.

"It looked like it was one of the Captains beloved Buggy Balls" one of Buggy's men said.

"Buggy balls?" Zoro asked with a smile. He probably found the name funny. Tani sure as hell did. She laughed at the name.

"Hey Zoro. I'm gonna go find us some food. I'm probably going to have a shower as well. That okay?" Tani asked him, mumbling the shower part.

"Yeah. Though you don't have to ask permission for that stuff" He said with a smirk. Tani smacked his shoulder lightly and said "You are the first mate" before running off in a random direction, waving good-bye as she went.

First thing she wanted to look for was a grocery store. That way, she wouldn't steal from people's homes. After a bit of running around, she found one. Tanith knew that most of the stuff must have gone bad by now, so she braced herself for the smell and walked in.

The smell wasn't that bad, but it still made her feel sick. Taking a deep breath of fresh air from outside, she held her breath. She walked in quickly, looking through everything as quickly as she could. Most of the stuff had gone bad, besides some dried fruits and nuts. As well as some water. She got as much dried fruits and nuts as she could, put them in small barrels the store provided, and rushed outside between each bag.

It took her two full hours to collect a good amount of stuff. In the end, she had about 25 small barrels of dried fruits and nuts, as well as 3 barrels of water. She'd found still good sake as well. She picked that barrel and brought it out as well. It surprised her that she could pick up a barrel of booze without much strain. Guess she was stronger than she thought she was.

She had to find a carriage or something to be able to carry around her. After looking around, she found one. Picking up the harness part of it, she pulled it to where the food, water and booze were. She stopped it next to the bag and barrels and started loading each onto the carriage. Once she had loaded everything on, she grabbed the harness, braced herself and pulled it.

She surprised herself when it was somewhat easy to pull. Sure she had to strain quite a bit, but it was bearable. Now, to find a house that wasn't going to be destroyed and take a shower. She really needed one. She had BO and her hair was greasy. Pulling the carriage along slowly, she looked for a house she knew wouldn't get destroyed. After a while, she found one.

It was too stories, with a front porch. It had a chair swing next to the door, under a window, on the porch. It was blue in color and the roof was black. There was a place next to the house that was a good hiding place for a carriage. Smiling to herself, she pulled the carriage into the hiding place and left it there after making sure it was well hidden. She tried the front door, finding that it was unlocked. Smiling happily, she walked right in.

The house was, of course, empty. The front door opened into the living room. When she walked in (closing the door behind her) she found that the living room was connected to the dining room which lead into the kitchen. It was like a curve. In the kitchen, she found what she was looking for. A staircase leading up. She walked up it. She found herself in a long hallway with rooms on either side. About 6 rooms, she counted. And one of them has to be a bathroom.

She walked down the hallway, opening doors as she went. At the fourth door, she found what she was looking for. A bathroom with a shower! She did a little victory dance as she walked in. It had a sink, a toilet, cabinets, and a bathtub/shower. She checked to see if it had running water and to her surprise (and delight) it did. Opening one of the cabinets she found soap and shampoo. Opening another one, she found some towels. Picking a large towel and a small one, she went to the bathtub and started the shower. She pulled the curtain closed and started washing.

After her 30 minute shower, she dried off, got dressed and found she didn't stink anymore and her hair smelled like wood. She liked the smell. It reminded her of trees and she loved nature. Anyway, she dried her long tree bark colored hair as best she could and walked out. When she was down stairs, she decided to leave a note, saying 'please forgive her for using the shower without permission but she was in a hurry. She didn't steal anything, so don't worry. Signed, a friendly stranger.'

Yup, that was good. She wrote it down and left it on the table in the dining room. Best place to see it. Smiling happily, she skipped out and toward her carriage.

After making sure nothing had been taken from the carriage, she started off for the docks again. She made it there just in time to see Zoro scare off the 3 idiots. She noticed Nami was with them and Luffy was carrying Zoro over his shoulder. She pulled the carriage over to them just in time to hear Luffy said "Where's Tani?"

"Right here" She answered him. She was out of breath and was panting by now.

"Hey! You got food!" Luffy said happily. Tani smiled and nodded. She dropped the harness and with Luffy's help (He put Zoro down in the boat) loaded the two boats. She left the carriage there and climbed into their boat. The two boats set sail. Tani looked at Nami then and Nami looked back at her. Introductions where then given.

"Alright! Let's get going!" Luffy said.

"Can I ask you something? Isn't that Buggy's mark on your sail?" Zoro asked Nami as she stood in her boat.

"Well, this did use to be Buggy's boat. Do you think I should change it?" Nami asked, looking at the sail.

"Wiping it out is the best option" Tani put in. She had her legs stretched out before her and her arms on the edge of the boat. She leaned her head back. God was she tired.

"HEY WAIT! YOUNG ONES!" An old man she didn't know yelled at them from the docks. Tani looked over at him lazily.

"It's the old mayor guy" Luffy said, looking over at him. _'Must be the mayor of this town' _Tani thought to herself. He just stood there, breathing hard for a few minutes. It looked to her like he was thinking something through. Zoro and Nami were also starting at the old guy.

The mayor lifted his head and yelled "Thanks! Thank you!" He was crying as well. Luffy, Zoro and Nami smiled at that. Tani smiled too. She remembered this part, vaguely.

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! TAKE IT EASY!" Luffy yelled back. That was when Nami noticed the missing bag of gold.

"WHAT YOU DO, LUFFY, HUH? Don't tell me you left that bag of treasure back there?" Nami yelled at Luffy.

"Yeah" was Luffy's answer.

"THAT BAG WAS WORTH AROUND 5 MILLION BELIS, YOU IDIOT!" Nami yelled back at him.

"That's right. And they're gonna need that money to repair their destroyed town" Luffy answered. Nami leaned toward Luffy menacingly.

"THAT WAS MY TREASURE, JERK! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD I WORKED TO STEAL IT?" Nami yelled before she pushed Luffy's head into the water between the two boats. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Luffy was struggling to get back up, but Nami kept his head near/in the water.

"STOP! I CAN'T SWIM!" Luffy yelled at her as he kept struggling.

"THAT'S THE WHOLE IDEA!" Nami yelled back.

"IF YOU WANT IT THEN GO BACK AND GET IT THEN!" Luffy then yelled. Nami pulled his head up then pushed him back into the water.

"I CAN'T DO THAT! YOU GO BACK AND GET IT!" Zoro and Tani started laughing at the two's antics.

"That's dangerous! I could die you know!"

"I DON'T CARE! And if you do that again, I really will throw you into the ocean!" Nami released Luffy then and Luffy started coughing water, trying to breathe.

"Well, for better or for worse, we finally have a navigator in our crew" Zoro said after he stopped laughing. Tani nodded her agreement. She shifted a bit. Her back was starting to ache and it was getting uncomfortable. It wasn't anything serious, it happened before. And when it did, it happened after a nightmare. She could ignore it now. She yawned and then got comfortable. Shutting her eyes, she fell asleep in no time at all.

When she woke up next, Nami was talking.

"There's no way we can make it through the Grand Line in this condition"

"Uggghh" Tani moaned, singling her awakening. "How long was I asleep?" Her body was sore everywhere. Her back hurt most of all. Damn it! Why couldn't she have slept through the pain?

"Only for about 5 hours" Zoro answered her question before asking "You okay? You don't look well." That phrase just got the 'understatement of the year' award.

"I'm fine. My backs just sore" Tani answered before sitting up and stretching, making her back pop loudly. It didn't help at all.

"Your tattoo might be infected" Luffy commented, trying to look thoughtful.

"I doubt that" Tani mumbled as Nami asked "Tattoo?" Luffy smiled at Nami and said "Yeah! She's got this awesome tattoo that's really detailed!"

Nami blinked, then looked at Tani and asked "Can I see it?" Tani blinked and nodded to Nami. Tani got up and jumped over to Nami's boat. Then she sat down and pulled off her shirt shamelessly. Tani still had her bra on, so nothing could be seen, but Zoro's and Nami's face both turned a bit red, until they saw the tattoo.

"Wasn't it a lot greener on it?" Luffy asked, sounding confused. Nami looked at him, surprise on her face. Zoro answered Luffy's question.

"Yeah. If I recall, it had looked like a tree in summer" He was confused, too, but hid it well.

"What's it look like?" Tani asked, trying to see her back. Nami answered her question.

"It looks like a tree in fall" Nami said and it was true. Where there had been green was now orange, red and brown. The leaves where changing colors like in autumn. As the three watched, the leaves on Tani's back moved as if a wind had blown through them. That was when Tani put her shirt back on. She was as confused as they were about the changing tattoo. Well, it was about autumn in Tani's other world, so maybe that's why? As Tani moved back over to her spot on Luffy's and Zoro's boat, Nami asked her "Do you know why it's changing?"

Tani sat down and shook her head. "This is all new to me. I guess I'll find out sometimes" She answered. Nami gave her a long look, then shrugged. The plot got back on track after that.

"You're right. We're gonna need a lot more meat" Luffy said. He was eating an apple. "Eating fruit every day is for the birds." To explain why there was a barrel of apples there; Luffy had eaten all the food Tani had 'borrowed' and they stopped by a floating bar. After some chaos, they left with the barrel of apples. Tani had slept through it all, woke up only once they left, grabbed two apples, ate them both and went back to sleep or so she was told. What surprised Tani when she woke up now was that she didn't remember doing that.

"We'll also need some more booze" Zoro said, causing Tani to say "'ear 'ear!" Both Zoro and Tani had drunk half of the barrel of sake each on the first day they set sail. She loved booze, so what? They were both hit with apples. Luffy caught the apple that hit Zoro and Tani caught the one that hit her. She started eating it. Zoro looked like a scolded kid right then.

"Shut up you bone-heads! That's not what I mean. The Grand Line is a dangerous place. We'll need more then beer and meat to survive there. Not to mention the place to crawling with other pirates that are also after the One Piece."

"Then don't mention it" Tani said, which caused another apple to hit her forehead. Luffy caught that one. "LUFFY! That was my apple! It hit me first! Give it back!" Tani called.

"You snooze you lose" Luffy answer, taking a bit. Tani started to growl 'why you little' when another apple hit her in the side of the head. She caught that one and subsided, settling for fuming silently as she ate.

"And they all have ships that are way better than this" Nami finished her rant.

"And we don't have a crew" Luffy added.

"We don't have a real crew, we don't have any equipment. We don't have a real ship for that matter" Nami said. "There's no way we'll make it like this!"

"Yup! We need a cook. And maybe a musician to keep us entertained" Luffy said.

"A musician? HAHAHAHAH!" Zoro said, laughing.

"So stupid" Nami said to herself. "A little south of here there's an island with a few settlements on it. And it looks like we can get our ship and some of the supplies we need there."

"FRESH MEAT AT LAAAST!" Luffy yelled.

"And some booze as well" Zoro added, causing Tani to laugh.

"Is that all you think about? Arg! What am I going to do with you?" Nami yelled.

"Wake me when we get there" Tani said, getting comfortable. She felt another apple bounce off her forehead again.

"ALL YOU'RE DOING IS SLEEPING!" Nami yelled at her.

"EXCUSE ME FOR WANTING TO SLEEP OFF THE SORENESS!" Tani yelled back before settling down again. She shut her eyes and went to sleep.

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**Again soooooo sorrrry for not updating in like sooooo long. I'll try to do better from now on!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone! I decided to update this story, since I had this chapter all ready. Anyway, just as a warning, I'm going to be getting busy, since it's getting close to that time of year where everything starts getting out of control busy. I'll update when I can. Ah, yes! I'm also writing another story. This one is a naruto fiction. If you want me to post it, say so! I'll be happy to post the first chapter so you all can have a view at it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**A sepcial thanks to all those who have either favorited/altered this story. You all get a biiiig hug! **

**A thanks to all you people who have read this story! You all get a hug too! **

**Make sure to review and tell me what you think! Who do you want Tani to be with? poll starts today! Vote one of the characters on Luffy's ship! Enjoy the chapter!**

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Tani was kicked awake by a mysterious black boot. Glaring at the black boots owner, she stumbled up and tripped out, landing in the sand on her hands and knees. She was still half in dreamland, but being on dry land helped rid her of some sleepiness. She stood up and looked around, noticing the cliffs and the slope.

"Ah! Feels good to be on dry land again" Zoro said while stretching. Tani walked over, stretching herself.

"Yeah!" Tani agreed.

"There's a village around her somewhere, right?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah. It looks like a small one though" Nami answered.

"OH OH! Then there's meat! There has to be a place to eat meat in this village!" Luffy ran over to Nami, drooling at the thought of meat.

"Just forget about meat for a moment, would cha?" Nami said, with a tick mark. That was when Tani noticed the rustling bushes. Her eyes narrowed. They were being watched. Zoro was in the middle of yawning when he noticed this fact too.

"Careful. We're being watched" Zoro pushed his sword slightly out with his thumb. He was looking around, looking for the person who was watching them. Tani was doing the same, her body taunt.

"Huh? By who? Where are they? They got meat?" Luffy was looking around as he said this.

"LOOK OUT!" Zoro yelled as, seemingly bullets flew at Luffy. Luffy dodged by jumping from one foot to another. Nami screamed and ran over to the boats. Simple pirate flags where raised then, from the bushes on top of the cliff. Tani leaned forward a bit, wishing she had some kind of weapon.

"OHHH! THAT'S SOOOO COOOL!" Luffy yelled, waving his arms up and down.

"Is this supposed to be when we're impressed?" Nami asked of no one.

"HAHAHAH! I am Usopp! Leader of the invincible pirate nation that rains over this island! You are standing before a legend! The most revered pirate who ever lived! I am the Great Captain Usopp! Surely you know that plotting an attack on this island would mean certain death! My army of 80 million super bean pirate shoulders would squash you like bugs!" Usopp yelled. He had jumped out of a bush, standing up on the cliff. His arms where crossed and he looked mighty proud.

"AWWWWEEESOOOMMMEEEEE!" Luffy yelled, looking thoroughly impressed. Zoro, Nami and Tani rolled their eyes at Luffy.

"You expect us to believe that?" Nami yelled at Usopp.

"Ah! SHE KNOWS!" Usopp started panicking.

"Yup. Well now I know" Nami said. Tani's respect for the navigator grew.

"How could I have been so dumb? I practically told her I was lying! I'm such on idiot! So stupid!" Usopp said wiggling around with his hands on his head. Tani and Nami sweat dropped at him.

"WHAT? He was lying?" Luffy said, sounded surprised. Luffy, the ever smart…

"Curse you, you tricky tactician! 80 million may have been an exaggeration, but I have a many man under my control!" Usopp yelled, flinging an arm out. The pirate flags started moving. To be more precise, 6 of the flags started moving.

"My guess is three" Nami said smugly. Tani smiled to herself.

"AHHHHH! SHE DOES KNOW!" Three kids yelled, jumping up from under the bushes. They bolted out of there.

"HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING!? COME BACK!" Usopp yelled at the three kids. Tani couldn't remember their names for the life of her.

"A pirate using a slingshot, huh?" Nami said as she picked up the small iron balls. "Well now I've seen it all."

"HAHAHAHA! That's pretty cool!" Luffy said, laughing.

"Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you" Usopp started rummaging in his bag. He pulled out a slingshot and an iron ball, papering to fire. "I'm a proud man and I won't stand for it!" Tani smiled to herself. Her favorite part. 'Mess with Usopp's mind' part. "This is your last warning or you'll get to see why they call me Proud Usopp and not Pushover Usopp! Is that clear?" Luffy put his hand on his hat, shadowing his eyes. "You've already seen for yourself how good I am with this thing! So you know I can rival anyone with a pistol!"

"Now that you've drawn your pistol, are you willing… to use it?" Luffy asked, lifting his hat just a bit, his face a mask of seriousness. Tani noted that he looked kinda scary like that. Usopp seemed to realize what kind of trouble he was in. "Guns aren't for threats, there for actions. Are you willing to risk your life?" Zoro smiled when he got what Luffy was doing. He looked at Usopp.

"I can assure you, we are real pirates. Consider your next move very carefully" Zoro said to him, using his thumb to push one of swords out a bit. Tani walked up beside Luffy and smiled a little to sweetly.

"Don't expect us to go easy on you" Tani said. She leaned forward and licked her lips. It wasn't hard to act like a loony for her. She's done it before. It scared people who had bullied her twin. It was her way of getting rid of bully's without fighting. Luffy looked really scary with his eyes shadowed and frowning. Zoro looked like a dangerous lunatic when he smiled like that. Usopp started to sweat nervously. He looked scared out of his mind. Usopp's flags started falling down. When Usopp released the slingshot, nothing flew at them. The iron ball fell to the ground just before Usopp fell to his knees.

"Pirates definitely have a lot more punch behind their words because they can back them up" Usopp said, with tears in his eyes. Probably from being terrified. "That's so cool!"

Luffy started smiling again. Tani dropped her ludicrous smile in exchange for a happy one. Luffy, Zoro and Tani shared a look and then all three started laughing. That was the most fun Tani had had since a while ago.

"I stole that" Luffy called up to Usopp.

"Huh?"

"I stole those words from red-haired Shanks, a pirate I know" Luffy answered. Usopp got a shocked look, the tears in his eyes disappearing.

"You know red-haired shanks? Then you really are a pirate! Wait, you gotta be lying. Do you really know him?" Usopp sounded like he couldn't believe his ears.

"Yup! I know your dad too. His names Yasopp, right?" Luffy asked. Usopp got a blank shocked look.

"Huh? HAHA!" Usopp said before he leaned too far off the cliff and fell down.

-BAM-

"You're right. My old man's name is Yasopp. But how…? How in the world do you know him?" Usopp asked when he was sitting upright again.

Next thing Tani knew all four of them where sitting in a restaurant called Meshi and Luffy was explaining how he knew Yasopp. They were all eating, with Zoro and Tani drinking as well.

"Maybe you could help us. Do you know anyone who could provide us with a decent ship? Or anything that knows how to sail for that matter?" Nami asked, turning to Usopp.

"Well, it's a pretty small village" Usopp answered, sighing. "Sorry, but I just don't think we'll be able to help you." Usopp had this smile on his face that made Tani think he was lying. She downed the beer in her drink, smiling to herself.

"What about that huge mansion? The one atop that hill over there?" Zoro asked, looking out the window. Usopp made an 'ekk' sound.

"Hey! Do you know them, Usopp? Surely with all that money that can help us get a boat?" Nami asked, looking hopeful.

"You stay away from there!" Usopp said, causing the other 4 to stare at him. "Gah! I just remembered something that I really gotta do." Usopp stood up, with a hand to his chest and said "Everyone knows me at this place, so stay and eat as much as you want! Heh. Well, I gotta go!" Usopp grabbed his bag and ran for it.

"Why was he in such a hurry to get outta here?" Nami asked of no one, looking after Usopp. Luffy just picked up an apple and started eating. Tani got a drink refill and just continued eating. Zoro kept drinking.

Right then the doors opened and the three kids from before, holding wooden swords, yelled out "The Usopp pirates have arrived!" Nami and Luffy watched them from where they were seated.

"Who are these kids?" Nami asked. Tani couldn't see them from her seat, but she knew who they were without looking.

"Captain Usopp is gone!" One of them said.

"Did they…?" another asked.

The third one ran up to their table and asked "Fess up, you filthy pirates. What have you done to our beloved Captain? Tell us now!"

"Yes! Tell us now!" The other two said. Luffy had just finished drinking and put down his glass.

"Ah. That meat sure was good" Luffy said, patting his bulging stomach.

"What meat?" One kid asked. The three where huddled together now.

"These pirates are cannibals" another said. Nami started laughing a bit.

The kids where shaking now. "What've you done? You savages!" The third kid said.

"If you're looking for your captain" Zoro said, smiling ludicrously, widening his eyes, making himself look like a lunatic. He had his head resting on his hand, with his elbow on the table. Tani smile the same way, letting her tongue loll out of the side of her mouth, making her look like she was insane. She loved watching the reactions.

"We ate him!" Zoro and Tani said in unison.

"AHHHH! CANNIBALS!" The three kids yelled, holding onto one another. They looked at Nami when they said it.

"WHAT ARE YOU PUNKS LOOKING AT ME FOR?" Nami yelled with shark teeth. Tani could barely keep her laughter contained. She lost it when the three kids fell to the ground. Luffy, Zoro and Tani burst out laughing. Tani ended up banging the table, trying to calm down so she could breathe again.

"You just had to say something stupid, didn't you?" Nami yelled at the three people laughing their asses off.

"You were laughing, too Nami" Tani needed to point out. For her honesty she got an apple to the forehead. A tick mark appeared on Tani's head.

"STOP PELTING ME WITH APPLES!" Tani yelled at Nami, slamming a fist on the table.

-CRACK-

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… I didn't do that… did I?" Tani muttered, starting at the crack that appeared when she hit the table.

Later, after they had explained what really happened, the three kids, which were named Onion, Pepper and Carrot (really, who names their kids after vegetables?) were leading the four pirates to Kaya's house. Tani did a victory dance in her head when she remembered the girl's name.

"You really had us going there" Pepper said, with a laugh.

"WHOA! THIS PLACE IS HUGE!" Luffy admired the mansion they were standing in front of.

"And if our Captain ran off at this hour, this is the place he's gonna be" Onion said.

"What in the world does Usopp come here for?" Luffy asked.

"He comes to lie" Carrot said, his hands behind his head.

"To lie? That's terrible!" Nami said, leaned forward so she was almost the same level as the kids.

"He's not a bad guy he's great, isn't he?" Pepper asked the other two.

"Yeah, he's awesome!" Onion said.

"How is a liar awesome?" Zoro asked. Tani shook her head to herself.

"Well, Kaya, the girl who lives there, has been in a terrible depression that's kept her weak and in bed since her parents got sick and died a year ago. She's very rich, but all that money couldn't help her recover from her sadness." Pepper said.

"So our Captain tells special made stories to make her laugh and cheer up" Onion said.

"Captain Usopp's the best at telling lies" Carrot said.

"Wow. That really is pretty nice of him" Luffy commented.

"Yeah!" The three kids said at once.

"The best about him is his mischievous side. He's always up to something" Carrot said.

"I like him cause he's not afraid to be silly" Pepper said.

"And I like the captains crazy lies" Onion said.

"He sounds like an interesting man" Tani said to herself. She was stealing herself to run in with Captain Kuro. If she saw him, she'd want to hit him right then and there, but she'd have to restrain herself. The plot might change if she did hit Kuro. And she had to keep her promise to Elegia.

"So when he tells her those stories, he makes her feel better?" Nami asked, still leaning toward the kids.

"Yup. Lots better!" Pepper answered.

"GREAT! I think we should ask her for a ship after all!" Luffy yelled, raising an arm in the air. Tani shook her head a bit.

"We're not the ones who make her feel better, Usopp is" Zoro said to Luffy. Tani noticed that Zoro seemed to have caught onto Luffy's train-of-thought (or there-lack-of…) pretty quickly. He seemed to know what Luffy was thinking, or if he was thinking at all.

"Getting in is impossible. Those guards at the gate don't let anyone through" Said Onion, pointing out the almost impossibility of getting in.

"uhh? Where's Luffy?"

"I'll go ask her!" Luffy was on the wall, holding onto the bar railings at the top.

"AH!" They all yelled when they saw him. Even Tani, though she knew he was going to be there.

"NO! YOU'RE NOT GONNA…?" Zoro asked, sounding horrified.

"GUM GUM…" Luffy said as he stretched downward, his legs on the wall.

"AHHHHHHH!" The three kids screamed when they saw Luffy's arms stretch.

"His arms are all stretchy!" Onion said.

"He's some kind of monster!" Carrot said.

"Pardon the intrusion!" Luffy said.

"Aw, crap!" Tani said, before she and everyone else ran forward, grabbing Luffy, trying to keep him there.

"No. No. No. No. No!" Zoro said as he tried to keep Luffy from GUM GUM ROCKETING into the yard.

"ROCKET!" Luffy cried as he went flying. He sent everyone who was holding onto him flying as well. This was Tani's first time having the feeling of flying/falling. She never wanted to feel it again, it scared her so bad.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tani as well as everyone else besides Luffy was screaming their lungs out.

"YEAH! WHOOO!" Luffy yelled as he fell. Tani made a mental note to hit the rubber bastard later as she kept screaming. Lucky for her, she landed in the tree by Kaya's window. When she felt her ass hit a strong branch, she stopped screaming and held on for dear life. They scared the crap out of Usopp. That was a plus. After the dust cloud the others made disappeared, Tani saw that they all were okay. Luffy and Zoro landed on the cement, leaving a whole in the ground. Nami landed on the grass and the three kids landed in a bush.

"That worked well" Luffy commented.

"YEAH! REAL WELL!" Nami said to him with shark teeth. Tani noticed Usopp 3 braches below her. She'd have to thank the tree for saving her later.

"My goodness! Are you okay?" Kaya called down to them, and then looked up at her. Tani nodded, smiling.

"Don't mind them, Kaya. This happens to me all the time! That's just the price of being a famous adventurer. Their just new recruits who heard about me and came to join the Usopp pirates" Usopp said.

"Anyone know where Tani fell?" She heard Zoro say as he stood up.

"Up here!" She called down from the tree.

"HOW'D YOU GET UP THERE?" Nami, Zoro and the three kids asked her, eyes bugging out. Luffy ignored them all.

"I landed in this tree! Which reminds me" Tani answered them, before turning to the trunk as if she was going to talk to a person. "Oh, Mighty Tree! I thank you for saving my life. I am terribly sorry if I have made any injuries to you. Please forgive my falling on you. You have my deepest gratitude. Please accept my apology." Tani paused as if to let the tree answer her. The leaves rustled as a supposed wind blew by. To Tani, it sounded like it was saying something like 'no harm done, apology accepted'. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart" She bowed to it; which was kinda hard seeing as she was sitting.

"…"

Tani started climbing down the tree as if nothing had happened. Luffy started laughing at her. When she was close to Usopp, she said to him "You should ask a tree before climbing up one." She climbed until she reached the lowest branch, and then jumped off.

"I came here to see you. I wanted to ask you a favour." Luffy said as he stood up, looking at Kaya.

"A favour? From me?" Kaya asked, sounding surprised.

"Uh-huh" Luffy said before continuing "I was wondering if there was any way for you to help us get a boa-"

"You there." A new voice said. Captain Kuro. Tani had just stopped by Luffy and now she wanted to run over to him and beat his ass. She grit her teeth, grabbing Zoro's wrist of make sure she stayed in place. Zoro looked at Tani with a shocked look. His face changed, though when he saw Tani's face. He changed the hold so that he was holding her there. Just from one look, he knew Tani was having trouble restraining herself from something. He didn't know what, but from the look on her face, he knew she didn't want to act.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kuro said as he walked toward them. With each step, Tani found it even harder to stop herself from running over there and hitting him. She felt reassured, though, that Zoro was keeping his hold. The only thing that kept her in place was Zoro's hand squeezing her wrist.

"Klahadore" Kaya said when she saw the man.

"Get out! I'll have you know this is criminal trespassing." Kuro continued to say. He fixed his glasses. Usopp made a slightly scared sound.

"Hey guys? Who's he?" Luffy asked curiously.

"Actually, Klahadore, these people are-"Kaya started to say.

"Not now, Kaya. You can tell me all about these riffraff after they've left" Kuro said as he walked forward some more. _'Call me riffraff again, I dare you' _Tani fumed in her mind. She felt Zoro's hand tighten warningly on her wrist. "Now get out! All of you! Leave now unless you have some business with me" Kuro finished.

"Well alright. Do you think _you_ can help us get a ship?" Luffy asked.

"Certainly not" Kuro answered. Luffy made a sound of disappointment and Zoro placed his free hand on Luffy's shoulder.

"USOPP!" Kuro then called. Tani could faintly hear Usopp say "crap" from behind the tree. "You've got quite the reputation. You're well known in the village."

"Heheh. Sure am!" Usopp said as he climbed back into view.

"I hear you've been on many an adventure. Quite impressive for someone as young as you" Kuro continued to say. Tani could hear the mocking undertone Kuro had. It just made her angrier, but she didn't move. Zoro would probably take her shoulder off with his strength if she moved an inch from where she was.

"People who admire me so much usually call me Captain! So it's Captain Usopp to you!" Usopp said. Tani believed he was trying to hide his fear by boasting. Or maybe he really was flattered.

"Captain huh? Hahah. Your father also had something of a reputation" Kuro said as he fixed his glasses.

"What?" Usopp sounded slightly offended.

"Klahadore, please just stop!" Kaya said to Kuro.

"You'll never be anything more than a son of a filthy pirate! Who knows what sort of trouble you're up to now. All I ask is that you and your kind leave this respectable lady alone." That would mean you too, 'Klahadore'. Tani wanted to say it so bad, but she kept her mouth shut. She might start swearing like a sailor if she opened it.

"A filthy pirate?" Now Usopp sounded really offended.

"You and she are from completely different worlds and you know it. Is it money you're after? How much do you want?" Kuro said to Usopp.

"Cease this at once, Klahadore! Apologise to him!" Kaya yelled, leaning out of the window. If she wasn't careful, she was going to fall.

"Hey, calm down, Kaya" Usopp said to her.

"I don't believe there is any reason to apologise to this savage young man, M'lady" Kuro said.

"My goal isn't to slander. I'm merrily stating the truth. I sympathize with your situation. You must hate your idiot of a father for abandoning his family and his village because of his mindless thirst for treasure!" Kuro said.

"Klahadore, stop!" Kaya sounded desperate.

"Don't you dare insult my father ever again!" Usopp said as he jumped down, using a claw shot (is that what it's called?) so he wouldn't hurt himself. The claw shot retreated back into his bag when he landed.

"Usopp!" Kaya yelled as she saw him jump. Usopp landed on the ground in front of the group.

"Why have you gotten so worked up, Usopp?" Kuro laughed. "It's times like these you should so what you do best and lie. Tell me about how your father is a traveling salesman. Or how you aren't really related by blood." Kuro continued. This caused Usopp to snap and he ran as Kuro, hitting him in the face.

"SHUT UP!" Usopp yelled as he hit Kuro. Kaya and the three kids all gasped.

"Captain!" The three kids said in unison.

"Case in point. He resorts to violence. I guess the apple never falls far from the tree, does it?" '_Guess that would make me a violent drunk…' _Tani thought to herself, thinking of her father. Well, she did like booze and she was a bit violent…

"Shut up!" Usopp yelled again, making Kuro flinch back a bit. This satisfied her need to hit Kuro and she relaxed a fraction. "My father listened to his heart and choice a life of risk and adventure! I am proud to say that my old man is a proud warrior of the sea! Your right, I have been known to exaggerate from time to time but I will never lie about who my father is. I refuse to be ashamed of my heritage! I am the son of a pirate!" Usopp said. Tani smiled slightly at this. She personally loved Usopp's pride of his father and heritage.

"Captain…" Carrot said.

"Hahaha. Pirates are brave warriors of the sea, are they? Hahahah. That's quite a twisted why of putting things. You don't seem to understand that you are living proof of his savage blood. You run around spouting lies and use violence when you don't get your way. To top it off, you cozy up to the lady of the house to steal her fortune." Isn't that what _you're_ doing? Went through Tani's mind.

"You're wrong! I only-"Usopp tried to say.

"Your father is a no good filthy pirate! Treachery is in your blood! Of course you would have such an evil scheme!" Kuro yelled at him. Usopp grabbed his collar, getting ready to hit him again. "You won't let up, will you?"

"Stop it, Usopp! Please!" Kaya yelled from her window. "No more violence. I can't take it! Klahadore's not a bad person! He's just trying to do what is best for me! Sometimes he goes too far!" Usopp relaxed his hand and Kuro slapped it away.

"Leave this place. You are never to come here again!" Kuro yelled at Usopp.

"Yeah. I get it. You don't have to tell me twice, buddy." Usopp still had his arm raised. He lowered it and put his hands in his pockets. "This is the last you'll ever see of me" He said as he walked away. Tani felt sympathy for him.

"Usopp…" Kaya said, sounding sad. The three kids ran forward.

"Hey, you butler jerk! Our Captain's not that kind of guy" Carrot yelled.

"You stupid jerk face!" Pepper yelled.

"Jerk face!" Onion yelled.

"JERK FAAACE!" Luffy yelled. Zoro punched Luffy's head and said "Shut up. You don't have a bone to pick with him." Kuro looked down at the three kids, causing them to shout in fear and hid behind Nami. Zoro had to let Tani go so he could restrain Luffy.

"What are you doing? Don't hide behind me!" Nami said to the kids.

"Let me at him! Let me at him!" Luffy chanted as he tried to go after Kuro.

"No Luffy, this isn't our fight!" Zoro said to Luffy.

"Let me go already!" Luffy yelled. "Common already. Zoro I'm serious let me down already!"

"I'll let you go, but you will stop acting like an idiot, you hear me?" Zoro answered.

"You will all leave immediately!" Kuro said. Dragging Luffy along, Zoro, Nami and the three kids left. Tani stood where she was, glaring heatedly at Kuro. Kuro looked at her with his eyes narrowed.

"And what do you want, girl?" He asked her. Tani continued to glare, then she spoke up softly enough that Kuro will hear her, but Kaya wouldn't.

"Hear me, Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates. Your plan of three years will fail and you will be condemned to a life of piracy for your crimes" Tani said to him, still glaring. She had the satisfaction of seeing his eyes widen at what she said. Then they narrowed suspiciously at her. She smiled a little too sweetly at him and left. Tani: 1 Kuro: 0! She did a little victory dance in her head. Knowing what was going to happen wasn't such a bad thing after all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, all of you! Sorry for taking so long to post this chapter. Let's just say I was being lazy. Anyway, I got accepted into Community College! I can't wait for that! It's been very hot here where I live and that's mostly the reason for my laziness. Ah well, I hope you can forgive me. As a gift, I'll be writing the next few Chapters for the next few days. I'll post them when I'm done. I'm sure all of you are wondering about Tani's mysterious twin. Don't worry, you'll know more about that later in the series. Also I need some ideas about what kind of fishman Tani should fight when that time comes! If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them. **

**WindWhistle21: I was thinking that too. I mean, Zoro's cool and all, but I like Luffy more. Thank you for the compliment! **

**Guest: You don't like romance? :O I love romance! Just as a warning to you, I might have a paring by Tani with a member of the crew, I'm just not sure who as of yet. For now, there won't be any romance.**

**Cutehusky13665: Everyone! Thank this person because Cutehusky was the one who got me motivated to write again! I also thank you! And here is another chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or anything related to it. I only own my OCS. **

**A Special thanks to those who have altered/favortied this story or me as an author! You get Cupcakes(My sister just made rainbow colored cupcakes! There good!)!**

**A thanks to those who have read my story! You get cookies!**

* * *

Tani walked along the dirt path until she found the others. Onion was missing as well as Luffy and Usopp. That means Jango hasn't showed up yet. She smiled to herself. She wanted to see Jango hypnotise himself. Running over to the others, she leaned on the railing next to Zoro and Nami.

"Hey" She said to them.

"Where were you?" Nami asked her. Tani smiled and said "I had a message to give to Klahadore." She made sure to use his alias this time.

"A message?" Nami parroted.

"I hope you didn't hit him. With the way you where seething back there, it looked like you wanted to kill him" Zoro commented dryly. Tani smiled sweetly at him, and didn't answer.

"TERRIBLE NEWS, GUYS! AHH!" Onion yelled as he ran at them.

"You see?" Carrot said. Tani must have missed the part where they were talking about Onion.

"Listen to me! Some nut-jobs on his way here and he only walks backwards! Hey, when'd you get here?" Onion looked at Tani. Tani blinked and said "Just now"

"You liar" Carrot and Pepper said to Onion at the same time.

"It's the truth!" Onion yelled, then turned around and pointed behind him. "There he is!" Tani smiled herself silly when she saw Jango. Walking backwards just like Onion said. It was funny watching it in the anime. It was hilarious seeing it in reality.

"Which one of you has the nerve to call me weird?" Jango said as he stopped by them. "I'm just a normal guy." More like a pirate, Tani sweat dropped.

"That so? You look insane" Nami commented.

"Don't be silly. I'm just an ordinary run of the mil hypnotist" Jango answered. Tani leaned forward a bit, her face almost spilt in two.

"A hypnotist? Really? Awesome!" Onion said.

"Show us something!" Pepper.

"Yeah, do something!" Carrot.

"What?! You fool's. What makes you think I'd want to show my hypnotist skills to road-side strangers? Okay, you've convinced me. Now watch the ring closely" Jango said, switching from one decision to another.

"What a ham" Zoro commented, causing Tani to snicker.

"Now, by the count of Jango you will be in a deep sleep." He was swinging the ring back and forth. Tani watched Jango himself instead of the ring. "Okay, are you ready? One, two Jango!"

The three kids and Jango hit the dirt, fast asleep. Jango's hand that held the ring stayed in the air, with the ring still swinging.

"Who is this freaky weirdo?" Zoro said with a tick mark. Tani out right laughed at the three. Jango then woke up and with a few parting words, was on his way. The kids woke up soon after. Zoro had switched to standing up and Tani had taken residence of the fence.

"Our Captains been gone for quite a while" Carrot said as he stepped forward. Tani knew where Usopp was, but kept her mouth shut.

"Yeah, Luffy too" Zoro answered, with his arms crossed. He didn't look like a happy capper.

"He probably just needs some time" Onion spoke up.

"Whenever he gets really upset like this, you can count on his hanging out by the shore" Pepper said, turning to look at the pirates, with his hands on his hips.

"Uhh. AH!" Carrot said. It seemed like he spotted something.

"UHAH!" The three kids yelled in unison. Tani spotted Usopp running at them from the distance.

"Captain!" Again, the kids said at once. _'How do they do that?' _Tani thought to herself.

"Huh?" Nami looked over to where the kids where looking. Usopp looked out of breath and he was panting. He also looked like something was really bothering him.

"Hold on. I thought Luffy was supposed to be with him" Zoro, the ever thoughtful… Well, he was the first mate.

"Captain!" The kids yelled again, but had to quickly get out of Usopp's way as he ignored the kids and kept running.

"Hey! Where's Luffy, is he still at the shore?" Nami asked, her voice going small as Usopp ignored her, too and kept running. "Wow. He looked really upset but why? Still mad at the butler?" Nami said when Usopp was gone. Tani jumped off the fence, landing on her feet easily. Tani shook her head at Nami's question and said ominously "No. It has something to do with the butler, but he's not upset for that reason anymore."

"If you know why, then tell us" Nami said, looking curious. Tani shook her head.

"It would be better if I didn't dish out my knowledge." She moved both her hands behind her head. "I might get killed for it." She stuck her tongue out. Zoro gave her a long look, meaning he had taken what she said and filed it away for later thinking.

"Who knows?" Zoro answered Nami's pervious question with his own.

"No! That wasn't just a mad face" Carrot said.

"That look was different" Pepper added.

"It was the tragic face of sheer desperation" Onion said.

"Hey. Why don't you guys show us the way down to that shore" Zoro asked (demanded) of the kids.

"This smells like an adventure to me" Carrot said. The kids where in a huddle kind of thing.

"Yeah! Something happened at the shore" Pepper answered.

"I think this calls for the Usopp pirates" Onion commented.

"Enough already! How do we get to this place?" Zoro sounded annoyed. Nami jumped off the fence. Tani walked over to Zoro, placing a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down. The kids are just excited for an adventure" Tani said to him. The kids showed them to the cliff. Tani noticed the tree there and hugged it. Then she walked over to the cliffs end and looked around.

"This is the place" Carrot said.

"Our captain always comes here to be alone and think" Pepper said.

"It is nice" Onion said. The three kids where looking around, probably trying to find Luffy.

"I don't think that Straw Hat guy is here" Pepper said to Zoro.

"The rocks sure are loose here" Nami said. Tani looked down and spied Luffy down at the bottom of the cliff.

"Nami. Be careful. You too, Tani" Zoro said. Ah, the loyal first mate.

"Uh. Guys? I found him" Tani said, pointing down.

"Luffy?" Zoro looked over the cliff as well as the kids.

"Whoa" Onion said.

"Hey, it's that straw hat guy!" Pepper said.

"And his butt" Carrot said. They got climbed/slid down the cliff to the bottom, gathering around Luffy.

"Luffy! What did you do? How did this happen?" Nami sounded terrified and shocked and scared.

"He fell!" Carrot said.

"He's a goner!" Onion said.

"So that's why our captain looked so upset" Pepper seemed like the only not terrified one there, besides Zoro. Tani then heard Luffy's snores. Tani's face spilt into a small smile and she bit her lips to keep from laughing. Zoro looked at her and said "What's so funny?"

"Listen and you'll find out" Tani giggled quietly. They all took her advice and listened.

"Hm? Wait a minute…" Zoro said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Heh! Lazy bum" Zoro lifted one of his sheathed swords and walked over to Luffy, hitting Luffy's lower back. Luffy's hands flexed and he made a 'hen' sound.

"AHHH!" The three kids and Nami freaked out. Luffy sat up, yawning.

"Good morning, guys" Luffy said, smiling. Tani couldn't help but burst out laughing. She fell on her ass.

"Hahahahahaha-OW-hahahahha!" Tani laughed, interrupted with a yelp of pain when she fell. She had sat on a sharp rock. "Stupid rock…" She got up, picked up said rock and biffed (**A/N: For those who don't know, this means to throw something really hard :D**) it into the ocean. It flew so far she couldn't see it before it flew into the ocean with a small, barely hearable splash.

"…"

Luffy then explained everything he and Usopp had heard.

"WHAT? Pirates are going to attack the village? Then their gonna kill Kaya?" The kids yelled.

"Yup, that's what they said. No question about it." Luffy answered as he put his hat back on. Tani wasn't surprised at this news, seeing as she already knew it.

"Wahhh!" The kids made scared sounds.

"So, what made you think it be a good time for a nap?" Zoro asked Luffy.

"That's the thing. I don't remember going to sleep, or getting down here at all" Luffy said with a big smile. The kids did a huddle, clearly talking about Kuro and Usopp and some other shit. Tani looked down at Luffy and offered him a hand. Tani heard where Nami commented about the village and just had to put in "But will the villagers believe him? He's known to be a liar. Will they believe him, or think he's just lying again?"

"Of course they'll believe him!" Carrot said.

"Yeah! They'll believe!" The two others said in unison. Tani raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing. The kids went back into the huddle, and commented about running like the wind and ran away, back toward the village.

"Oh no!" Luffy suddenly said.

"What's up?" Zoro asked him.

"AHHH! We need to stock up before the meat shop guy leaves!" Luffy yelled looking like it was the end of the world. Zoro walked behind Luffy and hit him with a sheathed sword.

"Come on. That's not really the issue at hand here." Zoro said. Tani giggled. Luffy accepted her still outstretched hand and Tani helped him to his feet. They walked, following the kids back to the village.

"CAPTAIN!" The kids yelled when they caught sight of Usopp. Tani stood behind the kids, with Luffy, Zoro and Nami.

"Hey guys!" Usopp said, raising his injured arm in a wave. Tani was sure that she was the only one who knew it was injured.

"HEY!" Luffy yelled, smiling. Usopp's face went from happy smile to dumb shock and horror. He made a surprised sound, before running over to Luffy.

"Wait! You're alive again?" Usopp asked Luffy.

"Alive? Yeah! And I had a pretty good nap!" Luffy said, looking confused at first, but smiling at the end.

"He was sleeping the whole time" Pepper said.

"Captain, we heard all about those pirates and their evil plan!" Carrot said.

"We better hurry and warn the people of the village so they have enough time to get away!" Onion said his arms in the air. Usopp's face changed. He frowned and looked like he was having unpleasant flashbacks. Usopp started laughing after a bit, though it sounded forced to Tani's ears.

"Hahahahahah! Well, obviously I'm lying like usual! That butler made me so mad at what he said! Hahahahaha! I'd thought I'd get him back and say that _he_ was a pirate! Hahahaha!" Usopp laughed. The kids joined in after a few seconds.

"Oh, I get it! You put the straw hat guy up to it too!" Onion laughed. They started walking away.

"Hey, where ya going?" Usopp turned around and asked them. Tani saw the blood on his arm, the one he was hiding.

"Honestly? You've really disappointed me" Carrot said.

"Yeah!" Pepper agreed.

"Even though that butler is a jerk, I thought you were better than lying to hurt someone. I admired you for being such a kind hearted person" Onion said

"And too think, we respected him all this time" Pepper said.

"I was wrong about him, guys" Carrot said.

"Let's go home" Pepper said.

"Yeah. I think it's supper time anyways" Onion said.

Tani started after the kids. _'They can be really harsh sometimes' _she thought. Tani looked over at Usopp. From this angle, she couldn't see his face, but she knew he probably had a sad face on. After a few minutes of staring, the group walked back to the shore. Nami was treating Usopp's shot wound. Usopp was making noises of pain. She wrapped it in a bandaged and said "There! All done."

"So, how come you lied to them?" Luffy asked

"Because all I do is lie" Usopp answered. Tani frowned to herself. She was sitting on the ground, lying against a rock. "There's no way anyone was going to believe what I had to say. Why should they."

"Because what you were telling them was the honest truth" Zoro said, leaning forward.

"They are coming and their gonna level this whole town" Nami commented.

"Yeah, but what am I supposed to do? They'll think I'm lying if I try to warn them. Everyone in the village is going to think tomorrows going to be a normal day." He clenched his hand and said, standing up "They think I'm lying and that's all they gotta think! I'm going to stop those pirates at the beach myself! This is all my fault for being such a liar. I don't care anymore if they drive me away with brooms or shot me in the arm. This is my village. My home and I love everyone in it. I have to protect them!" Usopp was crying now. Tani felt a tender smile spread across her face. She liked Usopp because of this reason.

"You're a hell of a good guy. Sending your cronies away and going into battle alone." Zoro's hand tightened on his swords as he talked.

"Just so you know, I've got dibs on all the pirate treasure, ya hear?" Nami said her raised hand in an 'OK' sign.

"Do you want a little help or what?" Luffy asked, he had his arm stretched across his body, with his hand on it.

"I'll make sure to give it my all~!" Tani said, giving Usopp a thumbs up.

"You guys… You guys are gonna help me fight all these pirates? I don't get it" Usopp asked, still trying to get his crying under control.

"Well, you said there's a whole bunch of bad guys, right?" Luffy asked as he flexed his hand.

"And you look scared out of your mind" Zoro added.

"For you information, I have nerves of steel! I am perfectly okay with tons of bad guys! After all, you're looking at the legendary Captain Usopp, warrior of the high seas!" Usopp said. He did look scared, Tani noted. And his legs where shaking. Usopp hit his shaking legs as he said "Damn it. Alright, fine! I'm scared. Why shouldn't I be? Their Captain Kuro's men! This guy's mean business. I don't need pity. If you guys are sticking around cause you pity me, just leave! I don't need you laughing at me!"

"We're not laughing at you. We're helping you, because you are honorable" Zoro said.

"You really think we'd risk our lives out of pity?" Luffy asked.

"I sure as hell wouldn't" Tani answered Luffy's question. Usopp started crying again. "Ah! You guys…!" Tani smiled at him. Tani would definitely give it her all, but she wasn't sure how much help she'd be. She didn't have any weapons to speak of. Oh well. Just gotta work with what you got!

Tani tuned back into the conversation as Usopp started talking again while he lead the 4 others back up the slope.

"Okay! At daybreak, the pirates will be landing at this shore to begin their attack. But the only way they'll be able to get to the village is to go up this slope. The rest of the shore line is sheer cliff, so they have to come through here. If we can fight them while their funneled into that narrow pass, their numbers won't mean anything and the village will be protected"

The group of 5 stopped at the top of the slope. Tani was impressed with how good Usopp was with analysing things. She was so impressed that it almost slipped her mind that the pirates where going to show up at the other slope.

'_Should I tell them? Would that change the storyline in anyway?' _Tani thought to herself. It probably wouldn't right away, but if something is changed now, it might cause a ripple effect and there could be many changes in the future. But then again, now that she was in the anime, things will change with just her presence. That was unavoidable. So what were a few changes now? Things continued on as Tani stayed lost in her thoughts.

"Alright! Sounds pretty easy!" Luffy said.

"Talking about it is, but victory depends on our strength. What is it that you guys can do?" Usopp said, looking at the 4 of them.

"I cut" Zoro said, his arms crossed and his weight on his left foot.

"I stretch" Luffy said, with his arm out.

"I steal" Nami said, her hands on her hips. When Tani didn't speak up, the other 4 turned to her and noticed her faraway look.

"And? What do you do Tani?" Usopp asked, shocking Tani out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" Tani asked, looking at the lot of them. Finally Usopp's question register in her mind and she said, "Um I hit?"

"I hide" Usopp said, sounding scared.

"YOU HAVE TO FIGHT TO!"(**A/N: I couldn't understand what Luffy, Nami and Zoro where saying when they yelled a Usopp during this scene in the dubbed anime, so I just that there.**) The other 3 yelled. Luffy had Usopp in a headlock. Usopp had tears running down his face and Luffy, Nami and Zoro looked furious. Tani giggled to herself, but otherwise stayed out of the 'bonding' experience, as she called it.

"Just making it funny! Come on, calm down!" Usopp pleading with his tormenters. After about a minute, Luffy released Usopp and Tani decided now was a good time to speak up about changing slopes.

"Guys." Tani said, which caused the others to look at her. Usopp had run off to get the barrels of oil they'd need while Tani had been lost in thought again. _'Danm! That guys fast!' _Tani thought.

"I thought it'd be a good idea to tell you that this isn't the slope where the other pirates are gonna show up. It's the other slope" Tani said, a serious look on her face.

"How do you know that?" Zoro asked, a suspicious look growing on his face. Nami looked at Tani with the same look, but less noticeable. Luffy just looked confused with a half-smile on his face.

"Hm. A little bird told me" Tani said, a half-smile on her face.

Nami stepped forward and pointed a finger in Tani's face. "We get it, you're knowledgeable. Now I think it's time you tell us where you got all this knowledge."

Tani went cross-eyed as her eyes focused on Nami's appendage, then she looked to Nami with a sad look on. _'If I tell them, they won't believe me. They'd probably leave me here.' _

"I'll tell you, I promise, but not right now. We have a battle coming and we need to be focused" Tani said, being completely serious for the first time since showing up here.

"But-!" Nami started, but Luffy interrupted her.

"Don't press anymore, Nami. She promised she'd tell us, so she'll tell us when she's ready" He said with a big smile and a few feeble protests later, they dropped it. They silently agreed to trust her on this one. Around this time Usopp came back with 3 barrels and was told about the location changed. He protested a bit, saying how could Tani know and such, but gave in after a bit. They made their way to the other slope. When they got there, they moved halfway down the slope and started pouring the oil onto the ground.

"Yup. I'm a genius" Usopp said, looking proud of himself. Luffy was sitting on the ground, Nami, Zoro and Tani standing behind him.

"Don't slip down, Luffy" Tani said a warning to her captain.

"Yeah I know!" Luffy said back happily.

"There's no way they'll be able to make it up this slope now! All this oil here should keep them occupied while we go to work on them. Their gonna be busy slipping and sliding like idiots and we show up to beat the crap out of them!" Usopp continued.

"Wow. So that's your plan, huh?" Nami asked, as she and Zoro walked forward.

"That's right! I'm gonna defend the village no matter what it takes" Usopp answered.

"Let's just hope none of us slip of that oil and end up down there with them" Nami pointed out a flaw in Usopp's plan. "Because that would be like sliding into a meat grinder."

"Usopp, I gotta hand it to you, you're pretty good at fighting dirty" Luffy commented as he slid one of his feet in the oil.

"Of course I am! There isn't anyone alive who can best me at the slingshot or the art of fighting dirty!" Usopp was looking proud of himself again. Tani smiled at his expense and it seems the other 3 pirates where as well.

"It's almost daybreak" Zoro said as he looked out along the horizon. Tani suddenly felt very nervous. In all her life, she had never felt so anxious before. She had a good reason to feel that way, since she had no weapon, just her fists and no power to speak of. Luffy looked back at her, as if sensing her distress and smiled reassuringly. Tani blinked at him, and all her nervousness seemed to just dissipate. She smiled back slightly. His smiled widened and he turned to look forward again. Tani looked back to the horizon as well. When the enemy arrives, she'll be ready to kick some butt!


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone! Could you forgive my lazy butt for taking so long? As a sorry, I made this chapter long. I've been getting ready for college, so sorry for taking so long. As such, I'll post when I can, but you might have to wait a while again. Sorry. Also, I went back to read over the first chapter. I was not happy with it, so I changed it a little bit. I'm posting the new first chapter after I post this one. **

**MsWildLuck: I'm glad you love my story! ^^**

**foxchick1: Thank you! And here is your update!**

**pizzafan123: I really appreciate you're comment! Thank you and Update here now! :D**

**Totong: Your comment made me fly through the roof (in my head). I had never been so touched before. I thank you for saying that. You're review made my day and made me very happy! :D**

**Fanboy316: Yes! I have a lot of ideas in my head for this story! **

**kage kitsune 14: Update here! ^^ And to answer your question fully would be spoilers! But I will say this. If you think about it, it's very hard to keep a secret like that, however Tani will try her best! Though it's not in her nature to keep secrets, there are those little details she believes some don't need to know.**

**Since I'm in a good mood, I give special thanks and hugs to everyone who reads this fic. Here's a cookie and another hug~!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece! Only My OCs!**

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Tani stood along the top of the slope, Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Usopp standing beside her. If she said she wasn't anxious, that'd be a lie. This was her very first actual battle in this world not counting the one with Captain Morgan (where she did nothing…). Even though she was nervous, she wasn't as nervous as she probably should be. She thought back on what happened only a few hours ago, when Luffy had smiled at her and made her extreme nervousness dull into something bearable. It was strange, to say the least. She felt so relaxed with this group, that even though she was going to live through the battle to protect Usopp's village, she didn't feel worried.

As they watched the sun start to rise on the horizon, Tani knew they'd be showing up shortly.

"Their coming" Zoro said in a warning fashion and as if on cue, the Black Cat Pirate Ship appeared along the horizon and quickly made its way to shore. Tani could see Luffy's excited and huge grin from the corner of her eye. Of all things to be feeling, Luffy felt EXCITED? _'Well, that would be like him, I suppose…'_ Tani thought. Nami looked calm and collected (Tani's respect for the girl rose again) but Tani could see the slight tremble of her hands. Zoro looked his calm self. Nothing new there. Usopp just looked scared. Again, nothing new there.

Tani watched as the ship with a huge (and stupid looking, in Tani's opinion) cat for a figurehead. The anchor fell and they waited a moment, before the pirates started climbing off the ship and onto the land. The pirates let out a battle cry, and started charging, not even noticing the 5 battle ready people standing at the top. Tani watched with amusement when the pirates reached the oil. They started sliding backward and swearing could be heard. Tani giggled to herself at the comical picture before her. The big bad pirates, slipping and sliding on the oil, looking like kids trying to skate.

"What's going on?" Jango showed up then, not looking very happy.

"There's oil on the slope!" One of the pirates replied, pointing. Finally some pirates got over the oil, by climbing over others (like Nami did to Zoro in the anime) and Tani, Luffy and Zoro stepped forward, all 3 knocking back the pirates. The pirates landed on the oil, causing them to slide back down. _'That wasn't so hard'_ Tani smirked to herself.

"An ambush!" One of the pirates yelled. Jango looked up at the small group of fighters and commented "We meet again."

Tani tilted her head in confusion. '_Is he talking to all 5 of us, or just Usopp?'_

"I am the legendary Usopp! I have been waiting for you!" Usopp yelled, causing Tani to face palm. Things were going so well, too. Now the liar will probably get them angry and things will go downhill from there. Tani sighed. "All my men and I are ready to fight! Turn back now if you value your lives!"

"I know you! You're one of the troublesome brats who overheard our plan. And you!"- Jango pointed at Luffy-"You're supposed to be dead!"

"I'm warning you; leave here while you still can! If you don't, my one hundred million crewmen will massacre all of you!" Usopp continued, ignoring Jango, it seemed. Luffy just laughed in response to Jango's comment about him.

The pirates didn't believe Usopp's lie. However, Jango was another story.

"No way! One hundred million? Incredible!"

The pirates set their captain straight.

"What's that? You've been laying to us this whole time?" Jango yelled. Tani resisted the urge to face palm.

"Captain Jango, take a look at this!" A pirate said. '_uh-oh' _Tani had a bad feeling about this.

"Oh, is it bad?" Jango asked.

"No sir, it's good! We searched the other two ships and found a load of treasure! It's hard to say how much, but it's probably around 5 million beli."

Nami noticed this and yelled down "MY TREASURE! DON'T YOU TOUCH MY TREASURE!" She made to run down there, but Tani stopped her with a reassuring hand.

Usopp was surprised, to say the least.

"Gah? 5 million beli? How in the world did you guys get a hold of so much treasure?" he asked them. They just shrugged, no time to tell him now. Tani remember the part about Usopp trying to give the treasure to the black cat pirates. It's not like he could that now, though, seeing as they were all here.

"These guys don't look that tough! Come on, let's get them!" Tani saw Zoro twitch at this comment. It must have hurt his pride.

"YEAH!"

This time, the smarter pirates used their swords to climb back up and the stupider ones followed that example. Now the whole group of pirates ran at the smaller group. Usopp squeaked in fear, but this time he pulled out his slingshot and prepared to fire. Tani, Luffy and Zoro stepped forward again, Zoro with his two of his swords out.

Tani kicked, and punched any pirate that was around her, making sure to send them back down to the shore. One of the pirates caught her arm, with a victory smirk, and then grabbed her chin with his other hand. He took a good look at her face and then smiled evilly.

"You look cute. Why not have some fun with me after all this is over?" He said, smiling lustfully. Tani's first reaction was to shiver in disgust. He didn't look good at all, with his thick eye brows, his square shaped face and fat lips. '_EWW!' _Tani thought as she struggled to escape. Tani felt from the first time in a long time real fear and along with it (as was normal with her) came rage. His hold tightened on her arm and Tani glared at him as she felt her very thin temper snap.

"Get… GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" Tani yelled and kicked the guy as hard as she could, making her leg feel numb afterwards. The guy fell backwards, his hand leaving red bleeding scratches on her arm as he flew. Tani didn't notice though, since she was too angry to really care. He landed in the water by the ship at the bottom of the big slope. Tani stared, mouth agape, snapped out of anger. Which was the same expression most had on. Why? Because this seemingly weak girl just kicked a guy that weight about 10 times herself into the water at the bottom of the slope (which was a long way down) as if it was nothing.

Zoro didn't let his surprise show as he slashed and knocked back the distracted pirates. Luffy, Usopp and Nami, on the other hand, where starting. Luffy had a shocked and excited grin on his face (which was his normal expression…) and Usopp and Nami just looked surprised.

"How did that happen?" Tani asked herself out loud. Nami was the first (besides Zoro) to recover and walked over to Tani, asking "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Tani said as she turned toward Nami, her hand rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

"AH! You're bleeding!" Usopp freaked out, pointing at her arm. Tani blinked and finally noticed the pain that her arm was in. She looked and winched. The 4 red angry looking lines bleed slightly, which was lucky in her book, considering that she's had worse injuries before. The only thing she really needed to worry about was the injury getting infected, since the man's nails probably had who knows what under them. She looked back up and met Usopp's worried gaze as she said "I'm fine! Don't worry."

Tani looked back over to the water and watched as the guy she had kicked crawled out of the ocean. How had she done that? She was strong, she knew that, but THAT strong? There was no way she was that strong. But with the proof in front of her, it was hard to think otherwise. She blinked, and then an excited smile spread across her face. With this, she could be of more help. Save the questions for later, they had a battle to win.

It seemed everyone else came to that conclusion as well, for they snapped out of it and looked forward, readying themselves for the next onslaught.

Tani looked out at all the pirates at the bottom of the slope. The only one standing was Jango, the other pirates where lying around groaning in pain from getting hit one too many times.

"The sun raises high in the sky now and that means Captain Kuro is very impatient" Jango said, before a shiver racked his body. Then he started yelling "Man! Don't just lay there! You can't tell me you're going to let them win? There just a couple of idiots!"

After Jango's 'encouraging' words, the pirates started to get back up again. Tani noticed that the oil was wearing away. By the time this battle was over, Tani predicted the oil to be gone completely. The pirates would be able to run up with no difficulty, as long as they watch for the smaller patches of oil. Just great…

"The fact is we don't have time to lollygag around here any longer. If our enemy is strong then we must become stronger than them. Here, stare deeply into this ring" Jango said. _'Uh oh…' _Tani thought when she remembered what was going to happen. Should she keep Luffy from being hypnotized? Or would that be changing too much? She was pretty sure that changing the location was bad enough; she couldn't really do anything else. As such, she decided to let Luffy be hypnotized. Besides, it was funny to watch.

"Now, I will count 'One, Two, Jango' and after that, you will all beguine to grow stronger. Your wounds will heal and you will grow stronger still!" Jango said as he swung the ring back and forth.

"So, what is he doing? Looks weird" Luffy asked as he adjusted his hat.

"Looks like hypnosis" Nami commented. Tani resist the urge to roll her eyes and say well duh. "He's trying to convince them their stronger than they are. Like that'll work." Sarcasm!

They all watched as Jango kept chanting stronger, and swinging the ring. Tani made sure to look at Jango and not the ring. She knew the others weren't stupid enough to let themselves be hypnotized (besides Luffy.)

"One! Two! JANGO!" Jango yelled and a moment later, all the Black Cat Pirates started yelling like maniacs (BATTLE CRY!)

"No way!" Nami said in surprise. They watched the one of the enemy pirates made a fist, his muscles bulging, and he punched the side of the cliff, causing it to crack and a part of it collapse. The pirates started yelling again after that.

"That one guy completely destroyed the cliff! Now that's what I call power" Zoro said, sounding shocked. Tani was glad they weren't blaming her for not warning them about this.

"I always thought hypnotizing people was a bunch of crap!" Nami said.

"That was just one of them, imagine what the whole crew can do." Usopp said, before he made a face of remembrance, like he had remembered something. Then he got straight in Tani's face, to the point where she had to lean back and yelled "Why didn't you warn us about that?!" This brought attention to her.

"That's right! I'm sure you knew this would happen and if you had said something, we could have stopped him!" Nami was next to yelled at Tani.

"Well, uh. Some things have to happen" Tani said her lame excuse. She was scratching the back of her head in embarrassment again.

"Talk about this later!" Zoro said, braking up the soon to be argument.

Luffy remanded quiet, with his hat shadowing his face.

"Now GO! Strike down all who stand in your way!" Jango yelled causing the pirates to yell a battle cry again. The pirates started running toward the small group of pirates at the top of the slope. Tani was starting to feel a little bit uneasy. Come on, Luffy!

"Hey, you guys! You might wanna move!" Zoro said to Nami and Usopp, who at the moment were a little ahead of Zoro, Tani and Luffy. "Luffy, You and I will take it from here."

Tani blinked, and then said "Hey! What about me?"

"Stick with Usopp and Nami and protect them!" Zoro answered. Tani started at him, and then nodded. She followed Usopp and Nami to their hiding place, and took to watching what happened, to make sure nothing attacks Usopp and Nami (and herself). Besides, she herself was more of a protector anyway. She found she had always fought better when there was someone who needed her protection.

"Alright, then. What now?" Zoro asked Luffy, who stayed quiet. "Uh, Luffy?" Luffy had on an angry I'm-gonna-kill-you face and he was growling. Tani couldn't help but smile. Luffy started screaming his own battle cry.

"DON'T TELL ME YOU LET THAT FREAK HYPONTIZE YOU TOO!?" Zoro yelled.

"He really is a simple minded idiot!" Nami said as Luffy started running down the slope toward the advancing pirates. Luffy attacked with his Gum Gum Gattling! To Tani, it looked like there where many arms attacking all at once. The pirates stopped running and started cowering. When Luffy hit them all, he sent them flying to the bottom of the slope. Jango started mumbling to himself. Tani could see his mouth moving, but she couldn't hear the words over the sounds of the Black Cat Pirates groaning in pain. The pirates got back up and when the saw Luffy, started to shake again.

Luffy yelled and started running at them, causing the pirates to run away from Luffy. Luffy just ran through them all. Then he ran past Jango (much to Jango's surprise).

"Where's he going?" Zoro asked as he watched.

Luffy ran straight up to the boat and grabbed onto the figurehead. There was much confusion among the pirates. Tani watched as Luffy started pulling on the figurehead, trying to break it from the whole ship.

"THAT'S RIGHT! TEAR IT DOWN!" Nami yelled to Luffy. She was punching the air with a fist. The Black Cat Pirates where freaking out over the fact that Luffy was trying to destroy their ship. Luffy was able to pull the figurehead from the ship and he started walking toward the enemy pirates, who, when they realised what Luffy was planning to do, started running for their lives.

Tani suddenly remembered what happened right after this and swore to herself. _'Damn it! I can't stop Jango! I'm too far away!' _On top of that she had said she'd stay with Nami and Usopp. She can't go back on that now.

Jango pulled out his ring and started swinging, saying "One, Two, Jango you will fall asleep! One! Two! Jango!" He yelled. Luffy paused in walking as he watched Jango and a moment later, he fell asleep. He fell to the ground, with the figurehead on top of him. Thanks to the length of the figurehead, the Black Cat Pirates where hit as well. Jango somehow made it out fine. He's got the devil's luck.

"Looks like those guys are probably down for the count, don't you think?" Nami asked Zoro from her place on the top of the left cliff.

"I guess" Zoro answered.

"Maybe, but Luffy's still trapped underneath that cat! Just look!" Usopp said.

"Relax, he's fine" Zoro answered Usopp, he stood with one of his swords over his shoulder.

"Zoro!" Tani called, getting his attention. "Things are about to get worse! The Black Cat Pirates have a trump card they are about to play now. One will act weak, but don't let it fool you!" Tani said, giving as much as a hint as she could. Zoro looked at her, his eyes narrowed. Tani just started back steadily, her gaze never favoring.

"Okay. I understand" Zoro said, and he turned back to the enemy and waited for their next move. Jango was moving again, Tani noticed. He was also mumbling to himself again. He was probably worried about the fact that the plan was failing.

"Buchi! Come check this out. There's some bad stuff going down!" Sham said from the boat.

"What the hell?" Buchi said.

Jango turned toward the ship and after a moment pause, yelled "Come forth! Meow Bon Brothers!" _'Trump Card played!' _Tani thought.

Two people jumped from the boat and landed near Jango. One was really fat, the other was skinny. Tani shivered. She really disliked the two of them.

Thanks to Tani's warning, Zoro was on alert. They watched as Buchi and Sham introduced themselves. The two brothers jumped down and landed in front of Jango. Jango ordered the two to attack Zoro.

They two took one look at Zoro (who was glaring down at them. Tani figured it was unconsciously) and started to cower, just like Tani said.

"No way! We couldn't do that! He looks to strong! Right, Buchi?" Sham said, sounding scared.

"Oh yeah. He's strong, way stronger than us!" Buchi answered. Zoro looked a little shocked at this. Zoro made a show of slowly pulling out his second sword, which caused them to cower more. Tani smirked to herself. At least he was taking her advice, though he was probably going to lose the still sheathed sword, which was the white one (the name of it escaped Tani mind).

"We just guard the ship! Not fight people!" Sham said, taking a step back.

"He's got a point. We're really not the guys you wanna send into battle" Buchi said, backing up what Sham said. Tani could tell they were faking it, thought it was a very well played act. Tani could see through fakers, since she herself has had to fake emotions to get out of certain situations. One actor can spot another.

"So, there a couple of pansies. Guess they're not the trump card after all" Usopp said. He was completely taken in by the brother's play.

"Sham, just do it already" Jango said.

"AHH! What? Please not me!" Sham said back.

"AND HURRY!" Jango yelled at them, causing the two to cower again.

"Okay, I'll go. Just stop yelling" Sham said, with tears in his eyes. Tani's eyes narrowed and she noticed that his eyes didn't show the fear and weakness he was acting like he had. Pretty good actors, they are.

"The guys crying like a baby! What are they doing down there?" Nami asked.

"Don't underestimate them. What you see is not how they truly are" Tani said, watching the scene before her unfold.

Nami, Zoro and Usopp looked at Tani, and saw the look on her face. It was one of caution and suspicion. Right then Zoro decided to trust Tani and turned to face the brothers.

They watched as Sham started running towards Zoro, yelling how he was going to tear him to pieces.

Zoro branched both swords at Sham and yelled "You come any closer and I'll cut you in half!"

Sham just continued running and yelling.

"I'm not joking! I'll do it!" Zoro continued. Tani bit her lip, because she knew what happened next. Should she intervene? Run over and grab Zoro's sword before Sham could get to it? But that could change something in the future. Then again, she's already changed quite a bit. Tani grabbed her head as it started to pound, the incline of a headache coming on. There were too many 'what if's to know for certain. She convinced herself to do nothing. Besides, she was told by the first mate to guard Nami and Usopp, so if she left her post, she could make Zoro angry, and that was not something she wanted to do. Even she admitted Zoro was scary when he was angry.

Just then, Tani heard Sham's voice saying "not likely" and his demeanour changed completely. Sham shot forward on fast feet, aiming at Zoro with his cat claws. Zoro blocked with his two swords, leaning back a bit from the pressure of Sham basically jumping on him.

"Too bad. It seems you fell for my little ruse" Sham said, before he jumped away saying "I'm impressed you blocked me." Tani noticed he had the white sword on his back. Well, Zoro had two swords, so he should fare better than when he only had one. "Considering what a brilliant performance I gave. Don't let the teeny bit of skill you have cause you to underestimate Sham of the Meow Bon Brothers." As he was talking, Sham brought his hand up to his mouth and licked the back of it, much like a cat would. That was when Zoro noticed something was missing. Just to make sure he looked down and his one sheathed sword missing.

Sham smirked then said "Are you missing something? Not that I would know anything about it." Tani grit her teeth and tried to stay calm. She hated this part so much. If she just rushed out in a rage, then she'd do more bad then good.

"Give me my sword back" Zoro said in a dangerous tone, his voice low.

"Your sword? But you already have swords! How greedy can you be?" Sham responded. Tani sat with Nami and Usopp, fighting the urge to just jump up and run at Sham. Her hands griped the grass so hard that her knuckles turned white, in an effort to keep herself seated. Her body was tense, like it sensed danger. Tani took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, and convince her body that there was nothing to worry about. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to see Nami giving her a look that said 'stop worrying'. Tani seemed to relax and released the grass before she pulled it out. Zoro was strong, he would be fine.

Sham grabbed the sword on his back, and held it in front of him, then he said "Say goodbye sword. 'Goodbye'." Then he threw the sword behind him. The sword flew for a second, then hit the ground, and slid for a little bit, before stopping. Tani watched as veins popped and tick marks appeared on Zoro's head. He was obviously angry about what Sham just did.

Sham licked his index finger and said "Now I feel lighter."

Zoro ran forward, his two swords raised and ready to tear. "You should be careful with other people's things!" Zoro swung at Sham, one of his swords cutting through Sham's side, but there was no blood. Tani had seen it. Sham had dodged at the last second. Zoro continued running, going for his last sword. Sham jumped up and aimed at Zoro's back.

Tani couldn't keep quiet at that. "ZORO! BEHIND YOU!" She screamed. If it wasn't for Nami's hand on her should, she'd have bolted forward. After all, these people, as strange as they are, where her first friends. She didn't want to see them get hurt. Zoro turned his head, and watched as Sham grabbed both his arms and sat on his back.

"You really have to be faster because I'm agile as a cat" Sham said as they landed on the ground, Sham pulled Zoro's arms toward him. Tani's mind screamed for her to help him and she almost did too, but the only thing that stopped her was her order. Zoro had told her to protect Nami and Usopp and that meant she had to stay here. _'He'll be fine. Remember what happened in the anime?' _Tani told herself but it didn't make her feel better at all.

They slid down a bit, then Sham said "Buchi, you're up! Get in here" Buchi said "Sure thing, Sham" as he ran forward and jumped up into the air, his foot out, getting ready to smash Zoro's head into the ground. Nami and Usopp both reacted to that with worry, while Tani bit her lip hard, causing her lip to bleed. At the moment, though, she didn't care.

Zoro was able to roll out from under Sham and roll away before his head was crushed. Buchi felt a small creator in the ground. Zoro rolled and landed in a crouching stands, his one sword still in his hands.

"Damn Buchi! He got away from you" Sham said as he rubbed his chin, where a bruise was forming. Tani let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"No, he's right there! Now hold him tight this time" Buchi responded with.

Sham turned to his brother and said "Careful, he's strong. Stronger then I told he's be, even without his all his blades" Sham said, holding Zoro's other sword. "Ah!" Tani yelled in surprise. When did he take that? She replayed everything that happened in her mind and released he had taken it when Zoro got lose. Sham had pulled the sword from Zoro's hands while Zoro was focusing on trying to get away in time. Tani looked to Zoro, who had an alarmed look on his face. He was obviously thinking about how close he came to dying a few seconds ago and the loss of his second sword. Sham threw the sword to join the other one on the ground and Zoro was left with one sword. "Bastards…" Zoro said, as he grit his teeth.

"I'll get him this time" Sham said, as he got into a fighting stand, with his claws forward.

"You got that right" Buchi said, as he too, took a fighting stance, his clawed hands held forward. Tani was in shock, even though she had tried to give Zoro a fighting chance and help him keep a least another sword, it got stolen again anyway. Well, at least the fight will continue just like in the anime.

Zoro seemed to have accepted the fact that he only had one sword now as he stood up and held said sword in front of him. "One sword technique is not my forte, fellas, but what the hell." He raised his sword and gripped it with two hands, raising it until it was about at his mouth. Tani sucked in a breath and slowly let it out. She felt useless, like she hadn't done anything at all. She wanted to help, but didn't know what to do. She could go after Zoro's swords, but that was Nami's job. Well, Tani's job was protecting Nami, so maybe if she took the hit Nami was going to receive there for protecting Nami, she'd feel less useless.

"Let's go, Buchi!" Sham yelled.

"Right Sham! Let's do it" Buchi responded with. They both yelled a name of an attack and ran at Zoro, hands raised. They started swiping at Zoro, trying to hit him, while Zoro blocked as best he could.

'This isn't good! They got him on the defensive!" Nami said, bring Tani's attention back to her. It was then she decided that she wouldn't protect Nami because she was order too, but because Tani liked Nami (as a friend). It was then that Tani looked over to Usopp, and saw him with his slingshot out, getting ready to shoot at Sham or Buchi. Panic went through Tani as she remembered what happened next.

"What are you doing Usopp?" Nami asked him.

"There's no way Zoro can gain any ground when he's too busy blocking there attacks. I'm gonna help him" Usopp said, "Take this. LEAD STAR!"

"USOPP DON'T-" Tani was cut off by Usopp shooting the round bullet. The bullet flew through the air and Tani watched as Zoro moved in front of the bullet. Usopp made a surprised sound. Before she could even think about it, Tani shoot forward, Nami and Usopp calling her name behind her.

"This is our chance!" Sham yelled and he swiped at Zoro. However, it was only his claws that touched Zoro. Tani had moved in and blocked Buchi's attack with her own body. Blood sprayed as his claws ranked threw her back, pushing her up the slope a little bit. She landed next to Zoro, her back searing with pain and blood soaking her shirt.

Zoro, Nami and Usopp started at her in shock, while the enemy had the same face on.

First things first "You dumbass! Don't help me. You wanna die?" Zoro said to Usopp, before looking to Tani. "You okay?" Zoro asked her. Tani looked up at him and laughed, then said "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He rolled his eyes, then asked "Why'd you do that?"

Tani looked at him, then looked away, an embarrassed blush spreading across her cheeks. "I don't know. I didn't think, I just moved." Tani didn't want to tell him the really reason why, so she lied. The real reason was because she had done this before. Throwing herself in front of someone to protect them. Tani's mind went back to Elegia and she sighed quietly. Will she ever see her twin again?

Zoro's eyes narrowed but he nodded and looked back to the enemy, but not before he caught sight of her back. The fabric was ripped to hell, blood was staining it, much like his own shirt, and it caused the cloth to sage a bit, which exposed the skin of her back. The tattoo was there, like normal, but something else caught his attention. There where scars, all over the skin he could see. He took a closer look at her arms and legs (Tani was wearing shorts and a t-shirt) and noticed scars there as well. They were white and shiny when the sun hit them. If not for that, he wouldn't have seen them at all. Her skin was so white and fair that it hid all scars on her body very well.

Zoro looked back to the brothers, the inspection only taking a moment and stored the new information in his mind for later thinking on. Now was not the time anyway.

"Go back to Nami and Usopp" Zoro ordered before he stood up, grabbed Tani's arm and pulled her up too. He then pushed her toward the two worrying people on the side of the cliff and Tani made her way over. Zoro looked back to Buchi and Sham as they ran forward and they continued their fight, with the brothers attack with all they had and Zoro on the defensive.

Tani sat down next to Nami, feeling light headed, who was looking over her back, while Usopp was freaking out about the blood again. Tani herself just wanted to lie down and rest her body. After that short run, she was tired as all hell. Also getting her back sliced open took its toll on her. After that, the conversation continued like that in the anime, but Tani was too hurt to really listen. The pain was something she could handle; it's just the thought of losing her life liquid, her blood that tired her out. Tani's eyes shut and she slumped forward.

"AH! SHE FAINTED!" Usopp cried in surprise.

"She should be fine, so calm down Usopp" Nami snapped back, getting tired of Usopp's constant worrying over the green eyed pirate. Then again, Tani was in bad condition. Thought a short rest would do her good. Both returned to watching Zoro struggle against the two cat brothers. Nami made a decision right then.

"I'm gonna get that swords" She said as she stood up. "If I get them back to Zoro, there'd be no way he can lose."

"Let me get the swords" Usopp said back, pointing at himself with his thumb. He was, after all, uninjured. But Nami wouldn't have it and jumped onto the slope, her Bo Staff in hand. Usopp called for her when she jumped, but he stayed where he was. After all, if he went after her, who was going to watch over Tani?

Meanwhile, Nami made her way down the slope, aiming for the two swords. Normally, she wouldn't bother helping anyone. After all, why should she help pirates? But the moment, when Tani ran off and protected Zoro, replayed in her mind and she wondered at the brown haired girl's expression. It was determined, for the most part, but it also looked fearful, like she was afraid of not making it in time. Another part had caught Nami's attention as well. Her eyes, once one got past the determination, had the look of someone who was remembering that past. Nami wondered to herself why the girl would have such an expression at that time. Had she protected someone before? Had she thrown herself in front of an attack, like she had done for Zoro, before? What surprised Nami the most was the fearful part in Tani expression. The moment Nami had met the girl; Tani struck her as someone who didn't show fear often. She seemed like someone who would move forward, whether it was into battle or just to a house, without fear.

Nami shook her head. Now was not the time to think about it. Nami ran past Zoro and the Meow Bon Brothers, running as fast as she could. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't been slightly inspired by how Tani jumped into the fight without a second thought. It was like the girl was a… protector. Though she did have a temper, when the girl wasn't raging, she seemed almost like a guard, how she carefully watched over the other 3, how she seemed to take joy in just being there, watching out for the others. Nami's mind flashed back to that one night, out on the ocean, when the 4 of them where on their way here.

~FLASHBACK(:P)~

_It was nighttime on the open sea and two boats where gliding gently on the open waves. Nami opened her eyes with a gasp and sat upright, her heart pounding, unsure of where she was for a second. Then she remembered, and calmed down. _

_She had a nightmare about _that man_ again. She sighed and stood up, walking out of the small sheltered room on her boat. She needed the fresh air anyway. She stood on her boat and breathed deeply, calming her racing heart. She looked over to the boat next to hers, and saw Luffy and Zoro sleeping away, both snoring. Nami sighed to herself and muttered "Men…" _

_Suddenly, she felt a pair of eyes on her; she looked over to the other boat again, wondering if someone had woken up, but Luffy and Zoro both where fast asleep. Nami realised then that one person was missing. Looking around, she noticed that, in fact, the other girl that Nami was traveling with was nowhere to be seen. Slightly panicked, she wondered if the girl had fallen into the Ocean somehow. On impulse, she looked up at the roof of her small room and she gasped at what she saw. _

_Tani was sitting on the roof, wide awake and completely alert, watching Nami with a small smile on her face. _

_Nami huffed in embarrassment and said "What do you think you're doing, sitting on top of my room, on _my_ boat?" Tani blinked at the girl, then looked back out over the ocean before answering._

"_I was keeping watch. You never know what could happen at night, so it's better to have someone wake. I get the perfect view from all sides up here, so that's why I am sitting here. Also, I'm more nocturnal then not, so I couldn't really sleep, anyway." Nami was surprised by the long speech. Ever since she met the girl, Tani hadn't said all that much to her. _

"_You should still get some sleep" Nami countered, trying to get the girl off of her roof. _

"_I'll catch up on sleep in the morning" Tani said back. She wasn't even looking at Nami. She was looking back out over the ocean. Nami huffed again, but didn't say anything else. Silence fell over the two. It was awkward, to say the least. Nami raked her brain, trying to find something to say to get rid of the tension, when Tani beat her too it. _

"_You had a nightmare, didn't you?" Tani asked. She was still looking out over the ocean, which Nami was grateful for at that moment. Nami watched the girl, wondering why she had bothered asking that. Tani's voice had surprised Nami, and struck a chord with her. It was soft, and gentle, something Nami thought the green eyed girl wasn't capable of being. Nami was about to open her mouth and tell the girl to mind her own business, when Tani opened her own mouth and said "You don't have to tell me, but if it makes you feel any better, I'm here and I won't let anyone near you, that you don't want near you." _

_Nami was about to snap how that didn't help her at all, until she realized, it did. It did help. It made her still racing heart calm down, her very active mind quiet and she felt sleep calling to her again. She blinked at the girl sitting on her roof, wondering just what happened. Tani looked to Nami again and smiled then said "You should get some sleep" before turning back to the ocean again. Nami was about to tell the girl she was fine, when a yawned took her and she realized just how tired she really was. Nami nodded, too tired to argue and walked back into her room, feeling strangely reassured that Tani was sitting on her roof, watching over them all. _

_Before she fell asleep, she heard quiet signing. She vaguely wondered where it was coming from, before falling into a dreamless sleep. _

_The next morning, Tani was back to normal, sleeping all day, eating whenever she woke up, being grumpy to the other 3 and Nami had to wonder if last night was all a dream, made up in her head._

~FLASHBACK END~

Shaking the memory from her head, she continued her ran, focusing on getting to the swords so she could get them to Zoro and not on the strange sleeping green eyed girl. Nami ran until she made it to the swords, and once she put a hand on one of them, Jango stepped on it with his foot. Nami had only a second to realize what this meant, and then she felt the pain. Blood sprayed as Jango used his hypnotist ring to cut Nami's shoulder. She fell forward and dropped her staff, landing on her side as she tried to ignore the pain. She still had to get Zoro his swords.

"NAMI!" Usopp yelled in worry.

"What do you need swords for?" Jango asked the fallen girl, before he looked up the slope to spot a figure. This figure caused him to yell in fear and horror. The reaction the other pirates had was very similar.

"No! I'm sorry! I-I can explain all of this!" Jango said, his voice as well as his body shaking.

The man at the top of the slope raised his hand and adjusted his glasses using the palm of his hand.

"The night has long since passed. So why does it seem you have made no progress on the plan?" The man asked angrily.

The Black Cat Pirates cowered and saying "C-Captain K-Kuro! No! He'll kill us all!"

Zoro turned away from his opponents so he could get a good look at Captain Kuro.

Usopp said "It's all over" as he looked down in defeat.

Nami was still in pain over the wound she had gotten, and she was trying to move, but the pain was too much.

Luffy was still asleep, under the Black Cat's boat figure head.

Tani herself was still asleep as well, but she showed signs of waking, though no one was really paying attention.

Captain Kuro looked over the people, before he lowered his hand and yelled "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" He looked beyond angry. Like he was two seconds away from killing everyone in sight. He growled at them all, waiting for the explanation.

* * *

**We got to see another part of Tani in this chapter. Her protector side, brought into reality by her Twin some time ago. And we also see her strange strength in this chapter as well, though I have been dropping hints about it. I wonder, why does she had this abnormal strength? You'll have to keep reading to find out! Also, I was wondering, how many of you of my lovely readers want Tani to end up with someone? How many of you think it was be better if this fic stayed the way it is without romance? Give me your ideas and opinions! I love reading what you think! So please review and tell me your thoughts!**


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